Merz rejects US transfer of frozen Russian assets to EU - Reuters
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz rejected the transfer of Russian assets frozen in the EU to the United States, which, according to media reports, was the subject of peace talks promoted by Donald Trump's administration.
As reported by Censor.NET, this was reported by Reuters.
"This is an internal European issue, and I see no possibility, in any form of economic benefit, of transferring the funds that we then mobilize to the United States of America... This money must go to Ukraine," Merz emphasized.
As noted, the initial version of the US-backed "peace plan" published by the media envisaged that $100 billion of frozen Russian assets would be invested in the reconstruction of Ukraine, with part of the remaining funds being invested in a joint US-Russian fund.
Frozen assets of the Russian Federation
After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, many Western countries imposed sanctions, under which part of the reserves of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (CBR) and other Russian state or private assets were "frozen" — that is, blocked from use: cash, bonds, securities, property, accounts, and assets of companies and individuals.
According to estimates by Western analysts, approximately $335 billion in Russian assets were frozen after the invasion.
Other sources report that the CBR's reserves, which have been frozen, are estimated at between €260 billion and €300 billion. At the same time, most of these assets (especially reserves) are held in the Euroclear depository, where a significant portion of the "frozen assets" are accumulated.
