EU does not refuse to confiscate frozen russian assets

The leaders of the European Union did not abandon the potential confiscation of frozen russian assets.

In particular, the declaration on Ukraine states that “russian assets should remain frozen until russia ends its aggressive war against Ukraine and compensates Ukraine for the damage caused by this war.”

As one of the diplomats on the sidelines of the summit, who was not authorized to comment to the media, explained, this wording was agreed upon as a response to discussions about the possible lifting or easing of certain Western sanctions against russia in the course of peace talks. And also in view of the threat that the extension of sanctions related to assets would be blocked by Hungary.

“These assets will be extremely important during the peace talks. Not the ones that are taking place now, because these are preliminary negotiations on a possible ceasefire. I'm talking about real peace talks, when, hopefully, russia will sit down with Ukraine, and where russia will have to face the fact that they need to reimburse the cost of reconstruction and so on. And at this point, the assets can serve as a kind of guarantee,” another diplomat explained.

“It is extremely important to keep this lever for negotiations, because if Ukraine does not have it at the moment when real peace talks begin, it will be the absence of a very important trump card,” the diplomat added.

The sanctions against frozen russian assets must be renewed with the consent of all 27 EU member states every six months, and Brussels fears another blockade of the extension of these sanctions by Hungary in the summer.

Source: Radio Svoboda