European Commission to propose using profits from Russian assets for Ukraine's defense industry - FT
Kyiv • UNN
The European Commission may submit a proposal to use the profits from frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine's defense industry.
The European Commission is expected to come up with a proposal to confiscate future profits from frozen Russian assets in the coming weeks. And today it will propose that EU countries use the future profits for the Ukrainian defense industry, the Financial Times reports, citing a draft decision, UNN writes.
Details
After several months of controversy, the EU is slowly making progress on the confiscation of windfall profits from frozen Russian assets blocked in Belgium, the publication points out.
EU sanctions have immobilized about 191 billion euros of sovereign Russian assets on Euroclear's balance sheet. The Brussels-based central securities depository has earned €3.25 billion in after-tax profits since the start of the war by reinvesting balances from maturing securities owned by Russia's central bank or other sanctioned entities.
One Ukrainian organization criticized the bloc for planning to confiscate these profits only from 2024, leaving billions of euros in the hands of a private company.
Euroclear is using its current profits as a buffer to compensate for future risks, as it has already been sued in Russian courts by individuals who have been sanctioned, the publication notes.
Euroclear estimates that its revenues from Russian assets this year could reach similar amounts to last year. According to the officials, the European Commission is expected to "propose confiscating future profits in the coming weeks.
Today, the Commission will also propose that EU countries use future profits for Ukraine's defense industry, according to a draft seen by the Financial Times
