EU Approves Use of Income From Frozen Russian Assets for Ukraine - Czech Foreign Minister
11:35 GMT 21.05.2024 (Updated: 12:24 GMT 21.05.2024)
© AFP 2023 / ALEXANDER NEMENOV
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MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The European Union has approved the use of revenues from frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said on Tuesday, adding that 90% of the sum would go to the Ukrainian armed forces.
"We have approved in the EU using revenues from Russia's central bank's frozen assets to help Ukraine. Up to €3B only this year, 90% goes for Ukraine's military," Lipavsky said on X.
Following the start of Russia's special military operation, the US-led West slapped widespread sanctions on Moscow, including freezing Russian assets worth approximately 300 billion euros ($329 billion). The bulk of this sum, approximately 200 billion euros ($221 billion), is being held in the European Union, predominantly in accounts at Euroclear, a European central securities depository.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the EU plan to seize Russian central bank assets was an "escalation of economic aggression" and a trade war, and warned that Russia would respond in a correspondingly harsh manner. She said that any attempt to confiscate Russian assets would be a gross violation of the West’s own law, international rules and bilateral obligations.
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