Yesterday at 23:33
The EU Council has approved a mechanism allowing to turn profits from the immobilised Russian sovereign assets into support for Ukraine.
This was announced by the Czech representative in the EU.
“Up to €3 billion only this year, 90% goes for Ukraine’s military. Russia must pay for its war damages,” Jan Lipavskŷ, Czech Foreign Minister, wrote on X.
Another 10% will be used to fund reconstruction of Ukraine.
Around $300 billion in Russian assets were frozen in Europe at the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. Most of the funds are held in the Belgium-based financial services company Euroclear.
The use of windfall profits became an alternative to the US proposal for fully seizing Russian frozen assets due to concerns about an unnecessary legal precedent and harm to euro’s reputation among European diplomats.
In March, Josep Borrell, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, revealed his proposal suggesting the EU should use 90% of the revenues from Russian frozen assets in Europe to procure weapons for Ukraine within the European Peace Facility.
Read also: State Department determined to enable confiscation of Russia’s frozen assets in US, — Blinken
