{"id":28082,"date":"2026-08-27T13:41:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T10:41:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/?p=28082"},"modified":"2026-08-27T13:41:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T10:41:02","slug":"eu-russian-assets-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/economics\/eu-russian-assets-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"Four EU countries have called for Russian assets to be used to support Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"news-lead\">Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain and Poland have called on the European Union to resume technical and legal work on using Russia\u2019s frozen state assets to fund Ukraine. Around \u20ac210 billion of the Russian Central Bank\u2019s reserves have been frozen in the EU; however, at present, it is mainly the income from these reserves \u2013 rather than the principal amount itself \u2013 that is being channelled to support Kyiv.<\/p>\n<div class=\"news-summary-box\">\n<p><strong>Briefly about the main points<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Four countries are drafting a letter to the European Commission regarding Russian reserves.<\/li>\n<li>Discussions may take place on 24 September at a meeting of EU foreign ministers.<\/li>\n<li>Approximately \u20ac210 billion of the Russian Central Bank\u2019s assets have been frozen in the European Union.<\/li>\n<li>The principal amount is not confiscated due to legal and financial risks.<\/li>\n<li>At present, the EU is utilising the excess profits from its frozen assets.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2>A letter to the European Commission and a possible review in September<\/h2>\n<p>The Financial Times and Reuters reported on the initiative on 27 August. The coalition is preparing a letter to the European Commission calling for a return to the technical and legal work on Russian assets.<\/p>\n<p>Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs <strong>Maria Malmer Stenergard<\/strong> stated that it was time for Europe to discuss once again how <a href=\"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/economics\/zelenskyi-potreba-10-mlrd-zbroia-ppo\/\">frozen Russian funds<\/a> could be used to the benefit of Ukraine and Europe. It is expected that this issue may be raised for the first time at an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers on 24 September in Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>Dublin holds the presidency of the Council of the EU until the end of 2026 and influences the setting of the agenda for such meetings. The mere possibility of the matter being considered does not imply that a decision on a new mechanism will be taken.<\/p>\n<h2>Which funds have been frozen and how are they currently being used?<\/h2>\n<p>Following the start of Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion, the G7 countries and their partners froze approximately $300 billion of Russian sovereign reserves worldwide. Within the European Union, around \u20ac210 billion has been frozen; a significant portion of this is held at the Belgian depository Euroclear.<\/p>\n<p>The EU is not yet confiscating the principal amount. To support Ukraine, the EU is primarily using the excess returns and interest generated by the frozen assets. In early August, the EU received a further \u20ac1.4 billion in such income, and since the assets were frozen, they have generated around \u20ac8 billion in excess returns.<\/p>\n<h2>Belgian risks and the Euroclear legal dispute<\/h2>\n<p>Legal and financial risks are holding back decisions on the direct use of reserves. Belgium, where Euroclear is based, has the greatest reservations: there are fears of legal action by Russia, the possible seizure of the depository\u2019s assets in other jurisdictions, and wider consequences for the European financial system.<\/p>\n<p>These risks have already materialised in the legal sphere. In June 2026, <a href=\"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/economics\/us-eu-russia-assets-ukraine-bloomberg\/\">Euroclear<\/a> has filed a lawsuit in Belgium against the Russian Central Bank after a Moscow arbitration tribunal awarded the Bank of Russia around \u20ac220 billion in compensation for the freezing of assets. The depositary fears that Russia may attempt to seize its assets in third countries.<\/p>\n<h2>Ukraine\u2019s needs and the limitations of the current funding model<\/h2>\n<p>The EU has agreed to provide Kyiv with \u20ac90 billion in loan funding for 2026\u20132027, specifically for budgetary and defence needs. The Swedish side believes that this amount is insufficient to finance the war and the country\u2019s reconstruction in the long term.<\/p>\n<p>Under the current mechanism, 95% of the extraordinary revenues from Russian assets are channelled towards repaying Ukraine\u2019s loans under the EU and G7 mechanisms, whilst 5% goes to the European Peace Fund. At the end of 2025, the European Council stated that Russia\u2019s reserves would remain frozen until Russia ceased its aggression and compensated Ukraine for its losses.<\/p>\n<p>The proposed next step is to find a legal framework that would allow not only profits but also the reserves themselves to be accessed. This would potentially open up access to hundreds of billions of euros for Ukraine\u2019s defence, budget and reconstruction.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The EU is currently channelling proceeds from Russian assets to Ukraine. Four countries are calling for a legal mechanism to be found for the principal sum.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":207433346,"featured_media":28081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_description":"\u0404\u0421 \u043d\u0438\u043d\u0456 \u0441\u043f\u0440\u044f\u043c\u043e\u0432\u0443\u0454 \u0423\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0457\u043d\u0456 \u043f\u0440\u0438\u0431\u0443\u0442\u043a\u0438 \u0432\u0456\u0434 \u0430\u043a\u0442\u0438\u0432\u0456\u0432 \u0420\u0424. \u0427\u043e\u0442\u0438\u0440\u0438 \u043a\u0440\u0430\u0457\u043d\u0438 \u0437\u0430\u043a\u043b\u0438\u043a\u0430\u044e\u0442\u044c \u0437\u043d\u0430\u0439\u0442\u0438 \u043f\u0440\u0430\u0432\u043e\u0432\u0438\u0439 \u043c\u0435\u0445\u0430\u043d\u0456\u0437\u043c \u0434\u043b\u044f \u043e\u0441\u043d\u043e\u0432\u043d\u043e\u0457 \u0441\u0443\u043c\u0438.","rank_math_title":"\u0417\u0430\u043c\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0436\u0435\u043d\u0456 \u0430\u043a\u0442\u0438\u0432\u0438 \u0420\u0424 \u0434\u043b\u044f \u0423\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0457\u043d\u0438: 4 \u043a\u0440\u0430\u0457\u043d\u0438 \u0404\u0421 \u0437\u0430 \u20ac210 \u043c\u043b\u0440\u0434","rank_math_focus_keyword":"\u0437\u0430\u043c\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0436\u0435\u043d\u0456 \u0430\u043a\u0442\u0438\u0432\u0438 \u0420\u0424 \u0434\u043b\u044f \u0423\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0457\u043d\u0438","td_subtitle":"","subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[805618],"tags":[806814],"class_list":["post-28082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economics","tag-finansy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207433346"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28082"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28083,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28082\/revisions\/28083"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}