The European Union is unlikely to confiscate Russian central bank assets frozen in Europe, despite G7 plans to discuss the legality of such a move at a meeting in February, senior EU officials said.

The EU, United States, Japan and Canada froze some $300 billion of Russian central bank assets in 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine. Some $200 billion of that is held in Europe, mainly in the Belgian clearing house Euroclear.

European officials are concerned not only with the legality of such an unprecedented confiscation of sovereign assets, but also with the potential consequences for the euro currency; investors might pull out of euro assets out of concern their money might one day be seized too.

In addition, Moscow has pledged it would retaliate by confiscating Western assets in Russia, which some reports put at $288 billion.

Belgium's Euroclear has "substantial" amounts of assets in Russia, officials said, which could be seized by Moscow in what could pose a financial stability risk to the clearing house, with major repercussions.

"The EU cannot bail out Euroclear," another senior official said. "Euroclear manages trillions and its bankruptcy would be far more than the budget of the EU. We have to balance risk and profit," the official said.