European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has announced a €35 billion, about $39 billion loan to Ukraine, secured by frozen Russian assets. European leaders said the loan would initially move forward without U.S. contributions after talks between U.S. and European officials stalled in recent days, The New York Times reports, UNN writes.
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The EU member states and the European Parliament are to vote on the loan announced on Friday; if the proposal receives the required number of votes, Brussels is going to disburse the funds by the end of the year.
The loan announced on Friday is less than the $50 billion that the United States and other major economies of the Group of Seven agreed to provide in June. Washington had intended to contribute between $20 and $25 billion to the loan, but only under conditions that would not allow the EU to review sanctions against Russia for three years.
The process of reaching an agreement between European and American officials was difficult due to legal issues. One of the stumbling blocks was the requirement of the EU, which holds two-thirds of the assets of Russia's central bank, to review the sanctions that froze the assets every six months.
Because any change in sanctions could unlock the frozen Russian money that is the basis of the loan, the United States has said it will only move forward with its contribution if Brussels agrees to extend the sanctions review period to 36 months.
However, any change in the review period requires the approval of all 27 EU member states, and Hungary, which has established close ties with Russia, objected.
To resolve the impasse, EU officials decided to move forward with a smaller loan that does not include Washington's participation, although von der Leyen said she was "absolutely confident" that the United States and others would eventually contribute.