The FT reports that the EU and the US are demanding that Belgium allow the use of frozen Russian assets to provide Ukraine with a “compensation loan.”
Since the war in Ukraine began in 2022, Western countries have frozen assets worth about 300 billion euros in Russian bank assets. About 190 billion euros are held in the Belgian Euroclear processing center.
The EU and the US want to use 140 billion euros to provide Ukraine with a “compensation loan.”
However, Belgium has asked other EU countries to guarantee the legal and financial risks of using Russian assets.
Belgium’s position has angered other European countries, which, in particular, note that some EU members have already provided significant assistance to Ukraine, which was associated with risks. For example, Poland has become a logistics center for sending military aid to Kiev, and Denmark has provided F-16 fighter jets, and they have not asked their EU partners to share the risks.
