As journalists managed to find out, official Brussels is currently actively assessing the legal and financial risks of confiscating frozen assets of the Central Bank of Russia for use in support of Ukraine.
Points of attention
- Some EU member states, including Germany, Belgium, and Luxembourg, oppose the idea of confiscating Russian assets.
- Brussels and the G7 countries are using frozen Russian assets to provide aid to Ukraine.
- The decision to confiscate and transfer these assets to Ukraine would be a significant departure from the current approach.
Active discussions are ongoing in the EU
European authorities are currently analyzing whether court decisions will be needed as a legal basis for the seizure of frozen assets, or whether calculating the damages will be sufficient.
Active discussions began amid fears that the new US president might reduce or completely stop aid to Ukraine.
Individual members of the bloc are doing everything they can to resume discussions on a more complete use of frozen Russian assets.
Despite this, several member states, including Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg, remain very concerned about the idea of confiscation and are currently opposed to its implementation.
How does the mechanism of supporting Ukraine with Russian assets work?
As mentioned earlier, official Brussels and the Group of Seven (G7) countries are using the profits from around $300 billion in frozen Russian assets to provide aid to Ukraine.
Kyiv's partners have devised a mechanism whereby these profits underpin a €50 billion ($52.5 billion) loan package for Ukraine.
What is important to understand is that the decision to confiscate this money and transfer it to Ukraine would be a significant departure from the current approach.
EU foreign ministers discussed the idea at a meeting in Brussels on Monday. The issue could be raised again at a summit of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday, where the Baltic states and Sweden will push for creative ways to better use frozen Russian assets, sources said.
