‘New ground is being broken’: EU seizes Russian profits for Ukraine – By John T Psaropoulos (Al Jazeera) / May 23, 2024
Ukraine wants to use $300bn in Russian central bank money held abroad to defeat it; Europe isn’t enthusiastic.
A landmark EU decision this week to send Ukraine the interest earned by hundreds of billions of dollars in Russian central bank accounts on its territory is adding urgency to a debate over what will happen to those accounts.
The difference between the two sums is enormous.
Ukraine wants to use the estimated 210 billion euros ($228bn) of Russian central bank money held in European institutions to defeat Russia on the battlefield. The EU froze those assets in February 2022, immediately after Russia invaded Ukraine. Another 50 billion euros ($54bn) are frozen around the world.
“If the world has $300bn, why not use it?” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently said.
