EU leaders push to fund Ukraine with proceeds from Russia's frozen
assets
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[June 29, 2023]
By Jan Strupczewski
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders will push senior officials
on Thursday to find legal ways to funnel proceeds from billions of
dollars of frozen Russian assets into projects helping rebuild Ukraine,
papers showed.
The bloc has said it froze more than 200 billion euros ($218.2 billion)
of Russian central bank assets in reaction to Moscow's invasion of
Ukraine in February last year. Another 30 billion euros of Russian
oligarchs' private assets were also immobilised.
Leaders of member states meeting in Brussels will ask the EU's executive
Commission and other bodies to press on with research into how they can
put the Russian money to work for Ukraine, draft conclusions of the
summit showed.
During months of debate on the issue, lawyers have said there is no
legal precedent to simply take the money, and the Kremlin warned in
November it would do everything it could to stop the West "plundering"
its assets.
EU officials say they have been looking at alternatives, for example
taking accrued interest or bond coupons or taxing such profits.
"The European Council took stock of the work done regarding Russia’s
immobilised assets, and invites the Council, the High Representative and
the Commission to take work forward, in accordance with EU and
international law, and in coordination with partners," the draft
conclusion read.
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said Russia and its oligarchs had a
legitimate claim on the frozen assets, but Ukraine also had a legitimate
claim against Russia over the damage it had caused.
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European Union flags flutter outside the
European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, June 5, 2020.
REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
"It's fundamentally wrong that our taxpayers get to pay for
something that we haven't caused. It has to be on Russia, it has to
be on their assets," she said. Russia has not made any public
Against the background of possible legal challenges, the EU has been
working to coordinate closely with the United States, Canada,
Britain and Japan - the G7 - to build international consensus.
The EU also needs to establish where to keep any proceeds from the
Russian assets and how to disburse them.
The sums are substantial. Belgium's Euroclear, which settles
transactions and safeguards assets, said blocked coupon payments and
redemptions boosted its balance sheet by 88 billion euros
year-on-year by the end of March to 140 billion euros.
European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said last week the EU
executive would come up with a proposal before August on how to use
the assets for Ukraine .
($1 = 0.9164 euros)
(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; editing by Philip Blenkinsop and
Andrew Heavens)
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