Breakthrough on frozen Russian assets? “We are ready”

A joint message by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keira Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron was issued by the German government.

"We are ready to take action in a coordinated manner to usage the value of frozen Russian state assets to support Ukraine's armed forces," says a message by 3 European leaders cited by Reuters.

As the leaders of the states added, the aim is to “bring Russia into peace talks”.

Merz, Macron and Starmer guarantee that they want to work closely with the U.S.

Further string of article under video material

Europe will usage frozen Russian assets? E3 countries speak

The European Union's authorities have been talking for respective weeks about the desire to usage Russian assets frozen in the West to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine and support Kiev's defence against Russia's aggression. The European Commission's head Ursula von der Leyen is simply a supporter of this idea.

Under global law, sovereign assets are not confiscated. The European Commission has so presented a plan which it claims would enable the EU governments to usage a crucial proportion of Russian assets worth €210 billion, now frozen in Europe, without actually taking over.

EUR 185 billion is managed by Euroclear. Around EUR 176 billion of this amount is deposited in cash and the remaining EUR 9 billion in securities.

In the U.S. six months ago, Senators Lindsey Graham (Republican) and Richard Blumenthal (Democrat) reported a draft of "cruising" sanctions against Russia, including further restrictions on Russian "shadow float", oil and banking sectors, and 500 percent duties on goods from countries purchasing Russian oil. Although at that time the task gained more than 80 another senators' signatures, it has not been put to the vote.