Leaders of the 27 EU countries will discuss the issue of the legalization of the seizure of Russian assets in the European Union’s jurisdiction at their summit on May 30-31, a source in the EU institutes in Brussels said on Sunday.
“The leaders are to discuss the situation with the seizure of [Russian] assets. From the legal point of view, it is practically impossible to do that is several EU countries, while it is quite possible in others,” the source said. “We will continue intense consultations on this matter.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in an interview with Germany’s ZDF television channel earlier that the European Union continued to discuss possible ways of using frozen assets of Russian businessmen to finance Ukraine’s restoration after the conflict. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell suggested EU nations look at possible seizure of the frozen Russian currency assets to use these funds to restore Ukraine.
According to Russian Central Bank governor Elvira Nabiullina, around 300 billion US dollars of Russia’s gold and currency reserves have been frozen as a result of the Western sanctions, which were imposed on the Russian Central Bank after the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine.
