1 week Ago By RT
The European Union has agreed on the expropriation of profits from frozen Russian assets to continue funding and arming Kiev, Brussels announced on Wednesday. The bloc’s ambassadors agreed on the course of action “in principle,” but the legal text is still to be ratified by the EU Council. The proposal targets proceeds from some €191 billion ($205 billion) in Russian funds currently held immobilized in the Belgian clearing house Euroclear.
In total, Western states froze an estimated $300 billion of Moscow’s sovereign capital abroad soon after the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022. “EU ambassadors agreed in principle on measures concerning extraordinary revenues stemming from Russia’s immobilized assets,” the Belgian Presidency announced on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday. Euroclear generates somewhere between €2 billion and €3 billion ($2.
15 billion to $3.22 billion) in profits annually from the Russian money, depending on the interest rates, according to CEO Valerie Urbain. Under the proposal, the EU hopes to send 90% of those profits towards purchasing armaments for Ukraine, and 10% towards non-military aid, with the first tranche expected in July.
“There could be no stronger symbol and no greater use for that money than to make Ukraine and all of Europe a safer place to live,” the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said, welcoming the agreement. In the meantime, Belgium will continue levying a 25% corporate tax.
