Some European leaders are actively considering using financial instruments to boost profits on frozen Russian sovereign assets to provide more funds for Ukraine.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo on Thursday announced a proposal to issue bonds backed by profits from freezing Russian assets.
"We can use the proceeds to pay interest on some kind of perpetual bond and then you can use those funds at a broader level," De Croo told reporters after meeting finance ministers in Brussels.
The EU and its allies have frozen approximately $280 billion in Russian assets, more than two-thirds of which are frozen within the EU. The vast majority of Russian funds have been frozen through the Belgium-based clearing house Euroclear, where they generated about 4.4 billion euros in profits last year.
European leaders are struggling to provide financial and military support to Kiev at a critical moment in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with Ukrainian forces facing ammunition shortages and Russia making gains in the east.
Previously, Macron mentioned the idea of deploying ground troops to Ukraine. According to the TASS news agency, Sergey Naryshkin, director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), said that Russia has learned that France is preparing to send a 2,000-strong military contingent to Ukraine. "France's current leadership does not care about the deaths of ordinary French people or the concerns of its generals."
According to information obtained by SVR, preparations are already underway for a task force to be sent to Ukraine. It will initially include approximately 2,000 troops. Naryshkin said that the French military is worried that such a large military unit cannot be transferred and stationed in Ukraine without being detected. "It will therefore become a legitimate priority target for the Russian armed forces."
At Thursday's summit, European leaders also discussed how to use Russian assets stranded on the continent to aid Ukraine.
Ukrainian bond prices rose after foreign media reported this week that the United States proposed to its G7 allies to create a special purpose vehicle to issue at least $50 billion in bonds backed by Russian assets.
However, some European countries, including Belgium, have been reluctant to take any action that could be seen as seizing Russian assets, fearing that such a move could face legal challenges, jeopardize the stability of the euro, and face retaliation from Moscow.
Currently, EU leaders are close to reaching an agreement to use proceeds from Russia's frozen assets to help Ukraine meet its military needs. Under the plan unveiled this week, most of the windfall profits will be transferred to the European Peace Facility, which is mainly used to repay governments for buying weapons for Ukraine, and a smaller amount will be transferred to the Ukraine Fund of the EU's regular budget.
Article forwarded from: Golden Ten Data