EU announces the beginning of confiscation of frozen Russian reserves
Work has technically already begun, Belgian Finance Minister says
EU countries have started implementing the European Commission's proposal to use the proceeds of $300 billion of frozen Russian assets in favor of Ukraine.
Source. This was stated by Belgian Finance Minister Vincent van Petegem, moscowtimes.eu reports.
He and his colleagues confirmed "a firm intention to move quickly on this issue."
"The work has technically already begun, and we are going to make rapid progress," van Petegem emphasized.
The assets of the Central Bank of Russia worth $300 billion were frozen by the G7 countries and Australia in 2022 after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.
More than $220 billion is held in the EU: it includes cash and government bonds in euros, dollars and other currencies.
Kyiv has repeatedly called for the transfer of these funds to rebuild the country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that this would be a "fair and legal" step, as well as a signal to all "potential aggressors" in the world.
In December 2023, the European Commission approved a mechanism for taxing profits from frozen Russian assets and allowed the proceeds (windfall tax) to be used to help Ukraine. It was reported that the EC expects to raise up to €15 billion for this purpose.
At the end of December, the United States began urgent talks with its G7 allies on the use of frozen Russian assets for military support to Ukraine, The New York Times reported.
The White House insists that the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, and Japan develop a strategy to address this issue by February 24, the second anniversary of the invasion.
Background. Meanwhile, US Special Representative Penny Pritzker explained that a decision on the use of frozen Russian assets by Ukraine will not be made soon – it will take six to seven difficult steps to reach a result in this process, she said.
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