Brussels-based Euroclear holds most of Russia’s frozen assets, but some say confiscation could be ‘an act of war’

The boxy glass and steel tower at a traffic-clogged junction on King Albert II Boulevard hardly stands out among the other buildings in the business district of north Brussels, the Belgian capital’s answer to Manhattan or La Défense in Paris.

But unlike its neighbours, the institution housed in this bland postmodern building opposite a branch of Domino’s Pizza is caught up in a geopolitical maelstrom. It is Euroclear, a little-known body that houses most of the Russian state’s frozen assets and now finds itself in the middle of a debate about international justice.