The countries of the European Union have reached a political agreement on the use of profits from frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine.
This was announced by the EUʼs high representative for foreign policy and security policy, Josep Borrell, at a press conference following the results of the meeting of the Council of the EU at the level of foreign ministers.
"On the frozen Russian assets, we have a political agreement to complete the work based on the proposal that we presented in December, which focuses on the profits from the frozen Russian assets," Borrell said.
According to him, the discussion will continue at the level of ambassadors.
Borrell added that he is making efforts to have this decision approved before the next meeting of the EU Council on Foreign Affairs (according to the agenda of the EU Council, the next meeting of foreign ministers will take place on February 19).
- Since the beginning of Russiaʼs full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Western countries have frozen over $300 billion in Russian assets. The Ukrainian authorities insist that this money be transferred to Kyiv as compensation for damages. International partners generally support the plan, but the US and EU have said they are looking for legal ways to implement it.
- Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the EU has frozen the assets of the Russian Central Bank for more than €200 billion. A significant part of these funds is kept in the Euroclear depository and in the first quarter of 2023 has already brought almost €750 million in profit. In addition, the EU has frozen €24.1 billion in assets belonging to Russians and Russian companies under sanctions. Recently , the USA froze another $8 billion of Russian assets. Currently, the United States and the European Union are looking for legal opportunities to use all $300 billion of frozen Russian assets for the benefit of Ukraine.