Representatives of the member states of the European Union agreed in Brussels on Wednesday that they will use the proceeds from Russian assets frozen in Europe to buy weapons for Ukraine and to reconstruct this country, which has been resisting Russian military aggression for more than two years. The Belgian Presidency informed about it.
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18:20 May 8, 2024
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The EU will use frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine (illustrative photo) | Photo: RFE/RL/Serhii Nuzhnenko | Source: Reuters
The proposal that 90 percent of the proceeds be used to purchase weapons for Ukraine through the so-called European Peace Facility (EPF) was presented by the European Commission (EC) in March. The remaining ten percent should be transferred to the EU budget and used for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
Wednesday’s agreement was preceded by long debates. Some countries had a problem with the use of money for military purposes. Belgian https://twitter.com/EU2024BE/status/1788202528607277533 but it came up with a compromise proposal that satisfied even those countries that wished to remain neutral, such as Austria, Malta, Cyprus and Ireland.
Slovakia and Hungary have already expressed reservations about sending military aid to Ukraine. The Czech Republic, on the other hand, supported the use of proceeds from frozen Russian assets in Europe both for the reconstruction and defense of the war-torn country.
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In response to the attack by Russian troops on Ukraine more than two years ago, Western countries froze the assets of the Russian Central Bank worth around 210 billion euros (roughly 5.3 trillion crowns). Most of these assets are located in Europe, particularly in the Euroclear international payment settlement center in Belgium. It is the revenues from these assets that the European Commission wants to provide to Ukraine.
The total financial contribution to Ukraine from frozen Russian assets could be around 4.5 billion euros (more than 112 billion CZK) this year. Kyiv could receive the first funding as early as July.
Heated discussions also took place about how much money Euroclear could keep for its expenses. The amount was reduced during negotiations from three percent – which the EU countries did not agree to – to 0.3 percent.
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