Washington Accused of "Pressuring" Europeans Not to Use Frozen Russian Assets

As Volodymyr Zelensky travels to Brussels on Thursday to convince Europeans to use the frozen Russian assets in the EU to help Ukraine, a senior Ukrainian official told AFP on Wednesday that the US administration is "pressuring" European countries to "give up on (this) idea."

The use of frozen Russian assets is a headache for Europeans, who are facing "pressure." A senior Ukrainian official stated to AFP on Wednesday, December 17, that Donald Trump's government is pushing European countries to "abandon the idea" of using the frozen Russian assets in the European Union (EU) to aid Ukraine.

"Seven countries already do not publicly support this idea," the official continued, speaking anonymously, adding that President Volodymyr Zelensky was traveling to Brussels to convince Europeans, gathered for a summit on Thursday, to use these assets.

An American official, speaking anonymously, told AFP on Wednesday that it was the Europeans who were "quietly" asking Washington to intervene on this issue because "they do not want to publicly say they are against" the use of the assets.

They fear the long-term damage it would cause to investments in their system and the credibility of their institutions," added the American official.

Assets as a bargaining chip to reach an agreement?

About 210 billion euros of the Russian Central Bank's assets are currently immobilized in the EU. They were frozen by Western countries after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In the first version of the American president's plan to end the conflict in Ukraine, released at the end of November, it was proposed to return part of these assets to the United States and the Kremlin for various projects.

Although this plan has been amended several times since, this initial position shows that the United States seems to want to use these assets as a bargaining chip to reach an agreement, raising the possibility that Moscow could recover part of the sums involved.

"The Ukrainians and Russians have each clearly stated their positions regarding the frozen assets, and our only role is to facilitate a back-and-forth that could lead to an agreement," said White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly.

EU heads of state and government meet Thursday and Friday in Brussels to decide, among other things, how to finance Ukraine's war against Russia over the next two years.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is promoting a plan to use the frozen Russian assets to grant Kiev a loan of 90 billion euros over the next two years, but this initiative faces fierce opposition from Belgium, which hosts most of these funds. Belgium fears Russian retaliation or being the only country to bear the consequences, especially in case of legal action.