EU Weighs Adding €25 Billion in Frozen Russian Assets to Ukraine Reparations Loan

The European Commission is weighing a proposal to expand its planned “reparations loan” for Ukraine by tapping an additional €25 billion in frozen Russian assets held in private accounts across the European Union.

The Gaze reports this, referring to Politico, citing an internal document shared with EU capitals.

The initiative would complement roughly €140 billion in Russian state assets currently immobilized in the Euroclear depository in Belgium. 

According to the document, the Commission suggested that member states consider whether the plan could be broadened to include other frozen Russian funds within the EU’s jurisdiction.

Brussels has not yet completed a full legal assessment of this step, the paper notes, but the Commission argues that evaluating such options is essential before moving forward with the mechanism.

The document, distributed ahead of an EU ambassadors’ meeting on October 17, outlines the core principles of the proposed “reparations loan” – a scheme designed to provide Ukraine with financial resources backed by profits or guarantees from frozen Russian assets.

EU leaders are expected to discuss the plan in more detail at next week’s summit in Brussels and may task the Commission with drafting a formal legislative proposal.

The EU’s recently unveiled defense “roadmap,” presented on October 16, envisions that the reparations loan framework should be finalized by the end of 2025.

As The Gaze reported earlier, the United Kingdom and Canada are set to join the European Union’s initiative to channel profits from nearly $300 billion in frozen Russian Central Bank assets held by G7 nations into a new “reparations loan.”