I Made a Proposal with the European Commission; Now It Is the EU Council's Task to Discuss It – Borrell

The head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, hopes that as a result of the summit, EU leaders will instruct ministers to finalize the proposal for the use of Russian assets for financing Kyiv.

"I have made a proposal with the European Commission; now it is the EU Council's task to discuss it... I hope that the leaders will instruct the ministers to make a decision as soon as possible," he stated.

On the previous day, the European Commission and the head of European diplomacy presented their proposal to EU countries, which involves using the revenue generated from the frozen assets of the Russian Central Bank for military assistance to Ukraine. Specifically, in 2024, Brussels plans to allocate 90% of the income acquired for supplying weapons to Kyiv.

Since the start of the special operation in Ukraine, the EU and G7 countries have frozen nearly half of the Russian currency reserves, amounting to about €300 billion. Approximately €200 billion of that is held in the EU, primarily in the Belgian Euroclear accounts, one of the world's largest settlement and clearing systems.

The EU is exploring ways to utilize frozen Russian assets for financing Ukraine's recovery. The European Central Bank has warned that this could pose long-term reputational risks for the European currency and has called for looking beyond this particular conflict and seeking alternative methods for financing Kyiv.

The Kremlin stated that adopting such decisions would be "another step in violating all rules and norms of international law." The Russian Foreign Ministry referred to the freezing of Russian assets in Europe as theft, noting that the EU is targeting not only private individuals but also state assets of Russia.