Trump administration wants to unfreeze Russian assets and place them under US control, - FT
The administration of US President Donald Trump has proposed that European countries unfreeze part of Russia’s sovereign assets and transfer them to a financial entity under Washington’s control.
According to Censor.NET, the Financial Times has reported this, citing four sources familiar with the matter.
This idea is being discussed in the context of a possible peaceful resolution to Russia’s war against Ukraine. European officials have opposed the proposal.
Witkoff and Kushner discussed the plan with European officials
According to the publication, the proposal was put forward by US President’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner during a meeting with representatives from Ukraine, France, Germany, the UK, the European Union and NATO. The talks took place on 10 October in Miami.
The US side proposed several mechanisms for unfreezing Russian assets. One of them involves transferring funds to a new special financial structure, which would be under the control of the Trump administration.
According to a US official, the use of frozen Russian assets was discussed as part of a comprehensive peace agreement. However, the mechanisms for unblocking the funds and the ways in which they will be used have not yet been determined.
Europe has opposed the transfer of control over the assets
As reported by the Financial Times, Ukrainian representatives confirmed that the issue of Russian assets had already been raised during previous meetings with US representatives.
However, European officials have categorically rejected the proposed plan. They stated that they would not agree either to lose control over frozen Russian assets or to return any part of them to Moscow.
"They were told that this would never happen," the publication quotes one of the sources as saying.
The future of Russian sovereign assets remains a subject of discussion within the framework of possible agreements to end the war.
