Four years after the start of the invasion of Ukraine, the assets of the Central Bank of Russia frozen by Brussels sanctions exceed 200 billion euros. Vladimir Putin claims that if the European Union uses this money to finance Ukraine, it will be robbing Russia.
In 2024, European leaders agreed to use interest generated by Russian assets frozen by sanctions imposed on Moscow over the war in Ukraine to finance support for Kiev.
However, directly using these assets for a loan to Ukraine is a much more complex step from the point of view political, legal and economic.
The possibility that arises now is that the European Union uses these assets, which exceed the 200 billion eurosin the form of a loan and then lends it to Ukraine 90 billion euroswhich Kiev would only return if Moscow agreed to pay war reparations.
A Belgium consider this step too risky. Vladimir Putin has already stated that the use of these assets, almost all of which come from the Central Bank of Russia, would be equivalent to a theft and threatens to retaliate.
