LONDON: Frozen Russian assets should be used directly to aid Ukraine, the European Union’s new foreign policy chief said in an interview with several newspapers published on Thursday.
Kaja Kallas stressed the importance of European support for Kyiv after President-elect Donald Trump signalled his intention to cut US aid to Ukraine when he takes office in January.
“If they (the US) reduce the aid, then we need to continue supporting Ukraine, because I’m worried about what happens if Russia wins. I think we will have more wars, bigger wars,” she said, quoted in The Guardian.
The EU has already begun to seize profits generated from the estimated $220 billion in seized Russian assets it holds, using them to fund weapons and aid for Ukraine.
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It has so far resisted seizing the entire sum due to doubts over the legality of such a move.
But Kallas, who was Estonia’s prime minister until July, predicted “we will get there one day”, raising the stakes before European foreign ministers meet in Brussels on Monday.
Kallas, known for her tough stance on Moscow, said the frozen assets were “the tool to pressure Russia.”
The funds could help pay for “all the damage that Russia has caused to Ukraine,” she added, calling aid for Ukraine an “investment” in “our own security”.
The EU holds more than two-thirds of Russia’s sovereign assets frozen by western countries after President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Around 90 of those assets are held by Belgium-based financial services company Euroclear.
The profits from the EU-held assets, estimated to be between $2.6 billion and $3.2 billion per year, have been used to arm Ukraine and finance its post-war reconstruction.
Moscow on Wednesday described the US disbursement of a $20 billion loan to Ukraine backed by frozen Russian assets as “theft”, vowing retaliation.
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