The European Union (EU) has prepared legislation that will allow the transfer of profits from frozen Russian sovereign assets to Ukraine already in July.
This is reported by the Bloomberg agency, which got acquainted with the draft documents.
The proposals, which require the support of all EU member states, involve the application of a windfall tax on immobilized reserves. This will make it possible to use approximately €3 billion per year to finance the supply of arms to Ukraine and the development of its defense industry.
About €260 billion of Russian central bank assets, mostly in the form of securities and cash, have been frozen by the G7 countries, the EU and Australia, with more than two-thirds of them frozen in the EU.
The funding has become especially important as Ukraine faces an artillery shortage and about $60 billion in US aid remains blocked in Congress.
The Biden administration is pushing for G7 allies to unlock frozen assets and wants to see progress before the leadersʼ summit in June, Bloomberg reports. But Malta, Luxembourg and Hungary spoke against the plan of the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen to use the income received from the frozen Russian assets for the purchase of weapons for Ukraine.
The proposals will be discussed by EU leaders when they meet in Brussels later this week.