First €1.5 billion from frozen Russian assets available to Ukraine in July – Von der Leyen
The first proceeds from frozen Russian assets to be transferred to Ukraine in July, large percentage will go to Ukraine's defense, 10% of this amount will be used for reconstruction and recovery, Ursula von der Leyen said during a speech at the International Confererance on Reconstruction of Ukraine 2024 on June 11.
“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.
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