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Ukraine will receive money from frozen Russian assets. Ukraine may receive the first income from Russian assets frozen in Europe by the summer. The European Commission expects that the financial institution in which the money of the aggressor country is stored will transfer about 3 billion euros per year, FREEDOM reports.
The ambassadors of the European Union countries approved a scheme for using income generated by Russian funds blocked in the EU, the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council confirmed. Correspondents from the scene were the first to report the decision.
“White smoke! EU ambassadors have agreed on the final step – sending confiscated windfall profits from Russian state assets frozen in the European Union to Ukraine,” said Rikard Jozwiak, European editor of Radio Liberty.
The total value of the frozen assets of the Russian Central Bank in the world is, according to various estimates, from 260 to 350 billion euros. About 210 billion euros are blocked in Europe. Most of them are in the Euroclear depository in Belgium. It should be understood that Russian money is not only cash. A significant part of them are funds in deposit accounts, as well as securities – stocks, bonds. That is, assets that work and generate income. They still belong to Russia. However, according to EU regulations, Euroclear reinvests these profits. In other words, it is reused for profit. And this profit is the property not of the aggressor country, but of the depositary itself. Their transfer to the needs of Ukraine, compared to the seizure of Russian assets, is a simpler procedure from a legal point of view.
“There are concerns that the confiscation of Russian assets will be considered a violation of the property rights of the Russian state and will undermine the status of the Eurozone and the euro as a reserve currency used by many countries around the world. But using the proceeds from frozen assets is a different story, and it is more acceptable in the modern world. A consensus has been reached in Europe that these revenues should be used in favor of Ukraine. And not just in favor of Ukraine, but in favor of Ukraine’s military needs. This is a step forward,” international lawyer Sergei Petukhov.
About 90% of the profits from Russian assets will be used to purchase weapons and military equipment for the Ukrainian Defense Forces. The remaining 10% will be used to restore infrastructure.
“We have reached a consensus in Europe that we want to use the windfall from Russian frozen assets. This is a significant amount, amounting to several billions per year. We also came to an agreement, which is now in the final stages, that we also want to use about 90% of these funds for defense purposes in Ukraine,” said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The United States of America is also looking for a way to make Russia pay for its aggression. There are about 4 – 5 billion dollars of blocked Russian assets there. At the end of April 2024, US President Joseph Biden approved a law giving him the authority to transfer Russian sovereign assets frozen in American banks for the restoration of Ukraine.
The law also defines specific steps for the transfer of funds. We are talking, among other things, about the need to create an international mechanism for compensating the damage caused to Ukraine by the war.
