The European Union is moving closer to agreeing on a detailed plan to use frozen Russian assets to rebuild Ukraine.
It is reported by RBC-Ukraine with reference to CNBC .
The EU has confirmed that more than €200bn and separately €20bn of assets across the bloc are owned by the Russian central bank and Russian private individuals, respectively. These assets were frozen by European authorities after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in order to sanction the Kremlin for its aggression.
“We had quite lengthy discussions (how to use these assets to pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine – ed.),” Anders Anlid, head of the EU task force on the confiscation of Russian assets, said.
He hopes that ideas will soon be put forward on how to use at least the proceeds from these immobilized assets.
It is noted that the issue is purely technical, legally and politically complex.
The European Union is categorical that Russia must pay for the damage and pain it causes Ukraine. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said back in November that the idea was to create a structure to manage the frozen funds, invest them, and then transfer the proceeds to Ukraine.
Then she noted that these funds should also be used for restoration, when the war ends, and the sanctions on the frozen assets are lifted.
For now, officials are focusing on the first step, using proceeds from the Russian central bank’s assets. In their opinion, this will be an easy way to avoid legal problems. At the same time, it is not clear how much money this will give Ukraine and how quickly Kyiv will receive it.
Economists agree that it is likely that the EU will be able to use the proceeds from the Russian central bank’s assets legally, but there are wider concerns about how much this will actually help Ukraine.
Jacob Kierkegaard, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, says the mechanism may work, but it won’t make a difference financially.
Restoration of Ukraine
According to the World Bank, the restoration of the Ukrainian economy after the invasion of the Russian Federation will cost 411 billion dollars . Note that these data are as of May, that is, before the Russians undermined the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station.
We add that in May the United States approved the transfer to Ukraine of the confiscated assets of the Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev . Then-U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said it was the first transfer of confiscated Russian funds, but not the last.
Source : РБК-Україна
