European financial market infrastructure firm Euroclear, which holds €183 billion in frozen Russian assets, has enlisted the services of bodyguards to protect its top executives against potential threats from Russia, a joint investigation by EUobserver, Belgian outlets De Morgen and Humo, and the French newspaper Le Monde has revealed.
Three anonymous sources told journalists that Euroclear has hired the French security firm Amarante to safeguard CEO Valérie Urbain and seven other executive board members. The decision, made in late 2024, was driven by multiple factors. One was the news that Russian intelligence officers had been plotting to assassinate Armin Papperger, CEO of the German defense firm Rheinmetall. Another was a December incident that coincided with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Brussels, when an unidentified drone was spotted hovering near Euroclear’s office, which sits on the same street as the headquarters of Belgium’s domestic intelligence service.
Reports of the Kremlin's alleged assassination plot against Papperger first surfaced in the summer of 2024, when CNN revealed that German law enforcement had thwarted the plan after receiving intelligence from the United States.
Meanwhile, on March 6, an emergency European Council meeting took place in Brussels to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine. According to a draft resolution obtained by Current Time, EU countries are planning to allocate over €18 billion from the frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine.