First Tranches of Frozen Russian Assets may come to Ukraine by Summer

If the EU member states can reach a quick agreement on the proposals of the European Commission and the EU High Representative on the use of proceeds from the sovereign assets of the Russian Central Bank frozen in the EU, Ukraine will be able to use the first funds from such proceeds by the summer of this year. 

This was announced today in Brussels during a press briefing by European Commission spokesperson Christian Wigand in response to a request from an Ukrinform correspondent to comment on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's words about the readiness of 90% of EU member states to agree to use the extraordinary proceeds from frozen Russian assets for military support to Ukraine.

‘The new proposal foresees that these proceeds will be used to support Ukraine with an immediate focus on financing (procurement - ed.) of military equipment and (in the medium and long term) for recovery and reconstruction. This proposal is currently under discussion. We hope for a quick agreement among member states so that the first payments can be made by the summer,’ Wiegand said.

He noted that the European Commission usually ‘does not comment on comments’, but recalled how the situation around the possible use of Russian financial assets frozen in the EU developed.

The first proposal made by the European Commission in December 2023, which came into force in February this year, stipulated that accrued interest should be kept in separate accounts, separate from Russian assets held in European financial institutions.

As a second step, the European Commission and the EU High Representative unveiled a proposal on 20 March to use these extraordinary profits, which come from interest accrued on frozen Russian assets, to provide military assistance to Ukraine.

‘This proposal has already been discussed several times at the level of EU Council working groups, as well as in the Coreper format. We expect the next such discussion to take place tomorrow. So we hope for a quick adoption of this proposal by the member states,’ added the European Commission spokesperson.

As reported, on 6 May, during a speech at the EU-Ukraine Defence Industry Forum in Brussels, EU High Representative Josep Borrell said that as soon as member states agree to use the proceeds of the Russian frozen assets, these resources will be directed to Ukraine to meet its urgent military needs, in particular, to develop the Ukrainian defence industry and to produce weapons in Ukraine.

Since the beginning of Russia's military invasion of Ukraine, democratic countries have blocked Russian financial assets in excess of €300 billion. According to some estimates, most of these assets are held in financial institutions in the European Union, particularly in Belgium.