EU should make joint decision on confiscation of Russian frozen assets – Zelenskyy
Ukraine has not yet seen a tangible result from the use of Russia’s frozen assets, and steps are needed at the EU level.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this during a media briefing following talks with President of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs, Censor.NET reports with reference to Ukrinform.
"Ukraine has not yet seen a tangible result from the use of the frozen assets of Russian terrorists," Zelenskyy said.
According to the President, the first tangible step in this direction was made by Belgium, which proposed to use a tax on frozen Russian assets. In particular, as Zelenskyy reminded, it is about 1.7 billion euros.
"This will help Ukraine. But to be honest and fair, we need powerful legislative steps at the EU level. And Ukraine will receive the 250-300 billion euros that will help us so much. This will be a powerful result, first and foremost for those people who have lost everything," Zelenskyy said.
In turn, Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs also said that a joint EU decision on the confiscation of frozen Russian assets is needed to rebuild Ukraine.
"When we talk about the (US) decision to confiscate sanctioned Russian assets, I think there has been a lot of work on this for some time. But at the European Union level, we have not made such good progress. We believe that there should still be a common decision at the European level, and this would allow us to transfer these funds to rebuild Ukraine or to take other measures to support it," Rinkēvičs said.
He added that Latvia is also working to find possible solutions at the regional level with its colleagues in Estonia and Lithuania.
"Here I see that there are many legal nuances in different countries. But, of course, the purpose (of using) these (frozen) assets is clear. These assets should be transferred to us and then to Ukraine," the President of Latvia said.
