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Brussels, EU approves indefinite freeze of Russian assets
2025-12-12 20:22:14 / BOTA
The European Union agreed on Friday to indefinitely freeze Russian central bank assets held in Europe, removing a major obstacle to using the cash to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia.
The EU wants to keep Ukraine funded and at war, as it sees Russia's invasion as a threat to its security. To do this, EU states aim to put into operation some of the Russian sovereign assets they froze after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
A major first step, which EU governments agreed on Friday, is to freeze 210 billion euros ($246 billion) of Russian sovereign assets for as long as necessary, rather than voting every six months to extend the asset freeze.
This eliminates the risk that Hungary and Slovakia, which have better relations with Moscow than other EU states, could refuse to extend the freeze at some point, forcing the EU to return the money to Russia.
The indefinite asset freeze is intended to persuade Belgium to support the EU's plan to use frozen Russian money to provide a loan of up to 165 billion euros to Ukraine, aimed at covering its military and civilian budget needs in 2026 and 2027.
The loan would be repaid by Ukraine only when Russia paid war damages to Kiev, effectively making the loan a grant that preempts future Russian reparations payments.
EU leaders – the European Council – will meet on December 18 to finalize the details of the reparations loan and resolve remaining issues, which include guarantees from all EU governments to Belgium that it will not be left alone to foot the bill if a potential lawsuit by Moscow proves successful.
Before that, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will visit Berlin for talks with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Monday, and will be joined later by other European, EU and NATO leaders, the German government said.
Germany sees no alternative to the reparations loan and will offer 50 billion euros in guarantees, European diplomatic sources said.
Danish Finance Minister Stephanie Lose, whose country holds the EU presidency, told reporters that "some concerns" still need to be addressed, but "we hope we will be able to pave the way for a decision at the European Council next week."
European Commissioner for Economy, Valdis Dombrovskis, said that strong guarantees were being prepared for Belgium.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Facebook that he believed the EU's move to freeze Russian assets indefinitely through a qualified majority vote - which requires the support of 15 of the 27 member states representing 65% of the EU's population - would cause irreparable damage to the bloc.
Hungary would do everything it could to "reestablish a legal situation," he said.
Russia's central bank said the EU's plans to use its assets were illegal and reserved the right to use all available means to protect its interests, remarks that Dombrovskis rejected.
The bank also said it was suing Brussels-based central securities depository Euroclear – which holds 185 billion euros of total frozen assets in Europe – in a Moscow court for what it called damaging actions affecting its ability to dispose of funds and securities.
Euroclear has been the subject of Russian lawsuits in Moscow courts since the EU froze its assets in 2022.
The Financial Times reported that Ukraine could join the EU by January 1, 2027, under proposals being discussed in US-brokered talks to end the war.
Talks for EU accession, a long-held goal for Kiev as it seeks to move further away from Moscow's orbit, typically take many years.
A European diplomat briefed on the plan said that Ukraine's accession would be "extremely difficult" to achieve by 2027 and that it was not clear whether EU leadership supported it.
Several other European officials and diplomats said the target date was "absolutely impossible."
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