Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much tax was taken on the interest accrued on Russian assets frozen in UK banks in each of the last five years.

The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI)’s, part of HM Treasury, announced in its 2022-2023 Annual Review that between February 2022 and October 2023, £22.7 billion in frozen funds had been reported in relation to the Russia sanctions regime. OFSI does not disclose the value held by particular designated persons and so the figure is provided as a cumulative total of assets reported.

Frozen assets are not transferred to HM Treasury and there is no change of ownership. Interest accrued on frozen assets remains subject to the asset freeze, and are to be frozen immediately by the person in possession or control of them. There is no obligation for a relevant institution to inform OFSI when it credits an account with interest and therefore OFSI does not hold this information.