The ambassadors of the European Union (EU) approved the creation of a working group on the use of frozen Russian assets for the recovery of Ukraine.
This was reported on Twitter by the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU.
The group will conduct a "legal, financial, economic and political analysis of the possibilities of using frozen Russian assets," the statement said.
Part of that work will include getting a "clearer picture" of where Russian state assets are located and their total value.
Sweden currently presides over the EU. Earlier, Reuters reported that the task force will be headed by Anders Anlid, chairman of Swedenʼs National Trade Council, a government agency. According to Anlid, among the key assets will be Russian central bank funds, which are expected to amount to "tens of billions of dollars".
- After the start of the great war, the USA, the EU and the G7 countries announced the blocking of half of Russiaʼs gold and foreign exchange reserves, or about $300 billion. Earlier, the European Commission proposed transferring the assets to a fund where they could be managed for profit. Currently, EU member states have the legal authority to temporarily use the assets of the Russian central bank in the amount of at least €33.8 billion to pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine.