The EU is preparing a plan to confiscate frozen Russian assets — €19 billion of Russian oligarchsʼ funds have already been blocked

The European Union, together with its partners, will develop a plan to confiscate frozen Russian assets. Then they want to hand them over to Ukraine to compensate for the damage caused by the Russian invasion.

Reuters writes about it.

"Russia must pay financially for the destruction it has caused. Damages caused to Ukraine are estimated at €600 billion. Russia and its oligarchs must compensate Ukraine for its losses and cover the costs of the countryʼs recovery. And we have the means to make Russia pay. We blocked €300 billion of reserves of the Russian Central Bank and froze €19 billion of Russian oligarchsʼ money," the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen noted.

According to her, in the short term, the EU and its partners could manage these funds and invest them. Proceeds will be transferred to Ukraine.

"We will work on an international agreement with our partners to make this possible. And together we can find legal ways to do this," the head of the European Commission stated.

• The British government has frozen Russian assets worth £18 billion ($20.4 billion). All of them belong to Russian oligarchs, individuals and legal entities that are under sanctions for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
• On September 23, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal told journalists on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly that $300-500 billion worth of Russian assets were frozen in the West. Currently, Ukraine is lobbying for the adoption of a new international agreement that will facilitate the confiscation of these assets for the reconstruction of the Ukrainian state.