Trump, Not Europe, May Transfer Frozen Russian Assets to Ukraine, Expert Says
US President Donald Trump may transfer Russian assets frozen in the United States to Ukraine. It is possible that he will then point out that Europe has not done the same with money held in financial institutions on its territory. But it is unlikely that Europe will take such a step, according to political scientist and co-founder of the National Platform for Stability and Solidarity, Oleh Saakyan.
The Gaze reports on this with reference to the FREEDOM TV channel.
Saakyan noted that most of Russia's assets are stored in Europe.
"This is sovereign Russian money. And, accordingly, if it is confiscated now, it will set a dangerous precedent in terms of the possibility of confiscating [funds] from any other country. And then the entire system of storing sovereign money will collapse: the Arabs will start taking it away, China will start taking it away, others will start taking it away, and a large amount of money from other countries is stored in Europe," Saakyan explained.
In his opinion, Belgium, whose banks hold a large part of these funds, will be the first to refuse to transfer Russian assets.
"They will not agree to this. First, it means ruining their economy and creating a deficit. Second, it will set a precedent, because then Belgium will have to respond to lawsuits and pay compensation. I think there will be political decisions not to touch Russian money, but to direct the income from it to Ukraine, but it is guaranteed that it will then be taken away at the end of the war," the political scientist believes.
Saakyan clarified that after the end of Russia's war against Ukraine, Russian funds stored in Europe will be transferred to Kyiv either as part of a treaty to end the war, as part of Russia's surrender agreement, or as part of confiscation through lawsuits to compensate countries and Ukraine for the damage caused by Russia.
Earlier, Canada transferred $1.7 billion in revenues from frozen Russian assets to Ukraine.
As The Gaze reported earlier, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that Ukraine had received another €1 billion from the European Union from revenues from frozen Russian assets.