The European Union has indefinitely frozen Russia’s assets in Europe to stop Hungary and Slovakia,whose governments are Kremlin-friendly from preventing the billions of euros from being used to support Ukraine.
The EU used a special procedure meant for economic emergencies to block the assets until Russia gives up its war on Ukraine and compensates its neighbor for the destruction it has inflicted for almost four years.
It comes ahead of a big loan plan for Ukraine to be discussed next week.
EU Council President António Costa said European leaders had committed in October “to keep Russian assets immobilized until Russia ends its war of aggression against Ukraine and compensates for the damage caused. Today we delivered on that commitment.”
The step will permit EU leaders at a summit next week to work out how to use the tens of billions of euros in Russian Central Bank assets to underwrite a major loan to help Ukraine meet its financial and military needs over the next two years.
It prevents the assets, estimated at around 210 billion euros from being used in any negotiations to end the war without European approval.
Under a 28-point plan drafted by American and Russian negotiators, the EU would release the frozen assets for use by Ukraine, Russia and the United States. The plan was rejected by Ukraine and its backers in Europe.
