EU states revive plan to use frozen Russian assets for Ukraine
Financial Times · 2026-08-27
EU states including Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, and Poland are pushing Brussels to revive plans to use immobilized Russian sovereign assets to fund Ukraine, in response to growing fears of a renewed funding crisis in Kyiv. This initiative seeks to leverage over €200 billion in Russian central bank assets held in the EU, which was previously blocked by Belgium due to concerns about legal and financial repercussions. A letter from these states is expected to be sent to the European Commission on Thursday, urging the restart of technical work on the concept and seeking solutions to overcome Belgium's veto. Sweden's Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard stated that using these assets is a "fair and smart way" to ensure Ukraine can defend itself.
While profits from assets held at Euroclear, based in Brussels, are already funding a €50 billion loan agreed upon in 2024, EU capitals now worry that additional financing is needed beyond the €90 billion loan assembled last December. Russia, through Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, has warned that the seizure of assets would be illegal and vowed to pursue legal action against any such decisions. Despite the renewed push, EU officials acknowledge that no new proposal has yet emerged to bypass the political and legal barriers that caused the plan to collapse last winter, with Belgium maintaining its original qualms.