Within two weeks, the European Commission will provide an official proposal on the use of frozen Russian assets for Ukraine's needs and, probably, for weapons.
The EU will start using frozen Russian assets
The publication notes that the European Commision President Ursula von der Leyen said earlier, "it is time to start a conversation about the use of excess profits from frozen Russian assets for the joint purchase of military equipment for Ukraine."
The EU executive could present a formal proposal in two weeks, sources familiar with the discussions said.
We said that the windfall will be used to restore Ukraine, but first of all there should be a country that can be reconstructed, so such a step would make absolute sense, said the EU diplomat.
What is known about the confiscation of Russian assets
On November 30, the US Senate presented a bill on confiscating Russian assets. Already on January 11, the Biden administration supported the confiscation of assets of the Russian Federation for transfer to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the European Commission plans to raise €15 billion from Russia's frozen assets as financial aid to Ukraine.
At the same time, Russia estimated that the West could lose at least $288 billion in assets and investments if it seized frozen Russian assets to help rebuild Ukraine and said Moscow would retaliate.
On Jan. 23, Belgium's ambassador to the United States, Jean-Arthur Regibeau, said that Western countries should collectively decide to confiscate frozen Russian assets, most stored in the Brussels clearing house Euroclear.
On Jan. 24, the US Senate committee approved a bill on confiscating Russian assets and their transfer to Ukraine.
On Jan. 30, the Committee on Political Affairs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a draft resolution for confiscating frozen Russian assets and their transfer to a new fund to restore Ukraine.
Europe keeps €191 billion of the €260 billion of Russia's frozen foreign assets, the profit from which amounted to €4.4 billion in 2023, and they want to transfer them to Ukraine.
G7 countries and the EU are discussing a plan to use frozen assets of the Russian central bank worth over $250 billion as collateral to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine.
On Feb. 12, the EU Council decided to regulate the future mechanism for using profits from frozen Russian assets on EU territory in favour of Ukraine.
British PM Rishi Sunak said that Western countries should be bolder in their approach to the confiscation of Russian assets, which they froze after the Russian Federation's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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