Borrell expressed hope for an EU agreement on Russian assets

The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, expressed hope that on March 18, EU foreign ministers will reach an agreement on using profits from Russian assets frozen abroad to assist Ukraine . He stated this before the start of the meeting of the EU foreign ministers.

“Today I definitely hope to reach a political agreement between ministers to use the proceeds from Russia's frozen assets. <...> This will increase the ability to finance the defense of Ukraine. I hope that today it will be possible to reach an agreement so that we can finally take action,” Borrell told reporters.

In addition, the head of European diplomacy expressed hope that it will be possible to agree on a €5 billion replenishment of the European Peace Fund to continue military assistance to Kyiv.

After the start of the military operation in Ukraine, the assets of the Bank of Russia amounting to about €260 billion ($282 billion) were blocked abroad. As the Financial Times wrote, €191 billion ($207 billion) was kept in the Belgian depository Euroclear. At the end of 2023, the financial group received income from them in the amount of €4.4 billion ($4.7 billion), which is equivalent to about 80% of all its interest income for this period.

On February 12, the European Council decided to separately account for and store income from frozen Russian assets and prohibited the disposal of net profit from them. They considered this decision “a step towards the potential introduction of a contribution to the EU budget from net income from assets” for further support, restoration and reconstruction of Ukraine. G7 countries said Russian assets will remain frozen until Moscow compensates for the damage to Kyiv.

The Russian Foreign Ministry warned that it would consider any actions with frozen assets “theft” and would take “strict retaliatory measures.”

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