PNN – German media reports indicate a new rift among European countries over how to exploit frozen Russian assets.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, citing German media, the German government’s proposed plan to use $106 billion in frozen Russian assets to purchase American weapons for Ukraine was met with opposition from France during a meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
According to the report, French President Emmanuel Macron emphasized at the meeting that the priority should be to support European defense industries and that these financial resources could be used to purchase and develop weapons systems produced within the European continent.
In this regard, the European Commission has also asked EU member states to agree to use frozen Russian sovereign assets to provide financial support to Ukraine. The proposal has been put forward in the form of a loan of between $219 billion and $249 billion.
At the same time, the Russian Foreign Ministry has rejected any obligation to pay compensation, called the plans for the use of Moscow’s assets “unrealistic” and accused the European Union of confiscating Russian property.
After the Ukraine war began in 2022, Western countries froze hundreds of billions of dollars in assets of Russia’s central bank and institutions. Since then, there has been widespread debate in the European Union and the Group of Seven about how the profits or principal of these assets could be used to support Kiev. Previously, some European countries emphasized the sole use of profits from these resources, but in recent months, the idea of directly utilizing the principal of the assets has also been raised with the aim of providing long-term financing for Ukraine, which has been accompanied by legal and political challenges.