Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated that there is still no agreement on the use of frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine, pointing to sharp differences between the positions of Europe and the United States, UNN reports with reference to PAP.
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When asked whether the issue of frozen Russian assets was discussed during the summit in Berlin, Tusk stated that an agreement that would allow the use of funds for the reconstruction of Ukraine is "very far off."
"Currently, we have a decision that allows for the permanent freezing of Russian assets. (...) However, from this moment to the potential use of these funds for the reconstruction of Ukraine, not to mention military support for Ukraine, it is still light years away," Tusk admitted.
According to Tusk, the decision to allocate these funds to Ukraine will not be made at Thursday's summit in Brussels, where an agreement on financing Ukraine for the next two years is expected to be reached.
"However, there are various indirect mechanisms, for example, the possibility of using these funds as a form of financial leverage, that is, as collateral for loans," he added.
When asked whether the United States' position on this issue is similar to Europe's, he noted that "the difference in opinions is very clear."
Americans say, leave these Russian assets alone, because it's hard to sit down with Putin and say, "Let's find a compromise, but we're taking your money." This is America's argument to be very careful here and not push things to the brink of collapse.
"The Americans would be interested in using these funds differently, and I think they would also use some of them themselves, perhaps in consultation with Russia. Sometimes it turns out that the Americans still have a business approach to this issue (...). It is difficult to talk about a single European and American position here," Tusk added.