First €1.5 billion from frozen Russian assets available to Ukraine in July – Von der Leyen

“At last year’s recovery conference, I said that we must transfer frozen Russian assets to Ukraine,” von der Leyen said.

“And now we are doing this important thing, in accordance with international law and also keeping financial markets stable. About 1.5 billion euros of this excess revenue (from the frozen assets) will be available in July.”

Von der Leyen also emphasized that this week at the G7 summit “we will discuss how Ukraine can benefit even more quickly from the frozen Russian assets.”

Confiscation of Russian assets

The United States and the EU are jointly considering legal authority to direct $300 billion in Russian assets to Ukraine’s reconstruction and other needs, U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken said.

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a bill to confiscate Russian assets and transfer them to Ukraine to rebuild its infrastructure on Jan. 24.

Outlines of decisions necessary to transfer frozen Russian assets to Ukraine are already being prepared, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Bill No. 8038 on the transfer of frozen Russian assets to Ukraine received the required number of votes to be passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on April 20.

Ukraine may receive almost $8 billion as part of this procedure.

The bill must now be approved by the U.S. Senate.

EU ambassadors reached a preliminary agreement on May 8 to direct revenue generated by frozen Russian assets toward supporting Ukraine.

The U.S. intends to use seized Russian assets to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine, Blinken confirmed on May 14, during a visit to Kyiv.

The first payment of surplus profits from the use of frozen Russian assets in the EU will be in July 2024, the European Commission announced on May 21.

U.S. on May 22 proposed that it would provide Ukraine with a $50 billion loan, that would be repaid with proceeds from Russian assets. However, such proposals have not yet been agreed upon. G7 is also asking what will happen to Russian assets if they are unfrozen in case of a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia.