🔗 Share this article Moscow Hits Back at Europe's Proposal to Lend Frozen Russian Assets to Ukraine Kyiv remains depleting its cash to keep going its military and economy, after almost four years of the ongoing invasion by Moscow. For Europe, the remedy to addressing Kyiv's budget hole of €135.7bn for the coming 24 months rests with frozen Russian assets located within Belgian bank Euroclear, and European Union officials hope to give it the green light at their meeting in Brussels next week. Russian officials caution the EU plan would be an confiscation, and Russia's central bank stated on Friday it was suing Euroclear in a Moscow court prior to a final decision is made. 'Appropriate' to Use Moscow's Assets, Assert Kyiv and Brussels Overall, Russia has about €210bn of its state reserves immobilized in the EU, and €185bn of that is held by Euroclear. European and Ukrainian authorities maintain that those funds should be used to reconstruct what Russia has destroyed: EU officials terms it a "reconstruction loan" and has devised a plan to bolster Ukraine's economy valued at €90bn. "It is appropriate that the assets frozen from Russia should be used to reconstruct what Russia has destroyed – and that that capital then becomes Ukraine's," states Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Chancellor Friedrich Merz says the assets will "allow Ukraine to protect itself successfully against any future Russian attacks". Moscow's lawsuit was expected in Brussels. But it is not only Moscow that is unhappy. Belgium is worried it will be saddled with an massive bill if it all backfires, and Euroclear head Valérie Urbain says using the assets could "disrupt the world's financial order". Euroclear also has an roughly €16-17bn locked in Russia. The leader of Belgium Bart de Wever has set the EU a series of "rational, reasonable, and justified conditions" before he will agree to the reconstruction loan scheme, and he has not excluded legal action if it "presents significant risks" for his country. Explaining the EU's Proposal? European Union officials is racing against time before next Thursday's summit to agree on a compromise that Belgium can agree to. Until now the EU has refrained from using the frozen capital directly but for the past year has transferred the "extraordinary revenues" from them to Ukraine. In 2024 that was €3.7bn. Juridically, using the interest is seen as safe as Russia is under sanction and the returns are not Russian sovereign property. But international military aid for Ukraine has fallen significantly in 2025, and Europe has struggled to make up the shortfall left by the US decision to virtually halt funding Ukraine under President Donald Trump. There are at the moment two EU proposals designed to furnishing Ukraine with €90bn, to cover a majority of its financial requirements. One is to secure the capital on capital markets, secured against the EU budget as a guarantee. This is Belgium's favored solution but it requires a unanimous vote by EU leaders and that would be difficult when two member states are against funding Ukraine's military. That leaves loaning Ukraine cash from the frozen Russian funds, which were initially held in financial instruments but have now mostly turned into cash. That capital is an asset of Euroclear held in the European Central Bank. The EU's executive acknowledges Belgium has justified fears and claims it is convinced it has addressed them. The plan is for Belgium to be safeguarded with a insurance encompassing all the €210bn of Russian assets in the EU. If Euroclear incur losses of its own assets in Russia, that would be offset from assets belonging to Russia's own settlement agency which are in the EU. If Russia took legal action against Belgium itself, any judgment by a Russian court would not be recognized in the EU. In a key development, EU ambassadors are poised to endorse on Friday to immobilise Russia's central bank assets held in Europe permanently. Heretofore they have had to vote unanimously every six months to renew the freeze, which could have meant a ongoing risk to Belgium. The EU ambassadors are planning to use an special provision under Article 122 of the EU Treaties so the assets stay blocked as long as an "clear risk to the financial well-being of the union" continues. Why Belgium is Remains On Board The Belgian government is insistent it remains a committed partner of Ukraine, but perceives legal risks in the plan and fears being forced to deal with the fallout if things go wrong. A usually fractured political scene in this case has united behind Prime Minister Bart de Wever, who is facing pressure from fellow EU leaders. "Belgium is a small economy. Belgian GDP is about €565bn – think about if it would need to shoulder a €185bn bill," comments Veerle Colaert, academic specializing in financial regulation at KU Leuven University. While the EU might be able to arrange enough guarantees for the loan itself, Belgium is concerned about an further exposure of being exposed to extra damages or penalties. Prof Colaert also argues the requirement for Euroclear to provide a loan to the EU would contravene EU banking regulations. "Banks need to follow stability regulations and shouldn't concentrate risk. Now the EU is telling Euroclear to do precisely that. "What is the purpose of these financial regulations? It's because we want banks to be secure. And if things go wrong it would be up to Belgium to bail out Euroclear. That's a further cause why it's so crucial for Belgium to secure water-tight assurances for Euroclear." EU Leaders Under Pressure from Every Direction Time is of the essence, state several EU member states including those neighboring Russia such as the Baltics, Finland and Poland. They maintain the scheme involving immobilized capital is "a economically realistic and practically possible solution". "It is a decisive moment for us," warns leading German conservative MP Norbert Röttgen. "If the plan collapses, I don't know what we'll do afterwards. That's why we have to reach an agreement in a week's time". Although Russia is unyielding its money should not be accessed, there are added concerns among European figures that the US may want to use Russia's immobilized billions for another purpose, as part of its own peace plan. Zelensky has stated Ukraine is working with Europe and the US on a reconstruction fund, but he is also aware the US has been talking to Russia about future co-operation. A preliminary version of the US peace plan referred to $100bn of Russia's blocked funds being used by the US for reconstruction, with the US {taking|receiving
Kyiv remains depleting its cash to keep going its military and economy, after almost four years of the ongoing invasion by Moscow. For Europe, the remedy to addressing Kyiv's budget hole of €135.7bn for the coming 24 months rests with frozen Russian assets located within Belgian bank Euroclear, and European Union officials hope to give it the green light at their meeting in Brussels next week. Russian officials caution the EU plan would be an confiscation, and Russia's central bank stated on Friday it was suing Euroclear in a Moscow court prior to a final decision is made. 'Appropriate' to Use Moscow's Assets, Assert Kyiv and Brussels Overall, Russia has about €210bn of its state reserves immobilized in the EU, and €185bn of that is held by Euroclear. European and Ukrainian authorities maintain that those funds should be used to reconstruct what Russia has destroyed: EU officials terms it a "reconstruction loan" and has devised a plan to bolster Ukraine's economy valued at €90bn. "It is appropriate that the assets frozen from Russia should be used to reconstruct what Russia has destroyed – and that that capital then becomes Ukraine's," states Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Chancellor Friedrich Merz says the assets will "allow Ukraine to protect itself successfully against any future Russian attacks". Moscow's lawsuit was expected in Brussels. But it is not only Moscow that is unhappy. Belgium is worried it will be saddled with an massive bill if it all backfires, and Euroclear head Valérie Urbain says using the assets could "disrupt the world's financial order". Euroclear also has an roughly €16-17bn locked in Russia. The leader of Belgium Bart de Wever has set the EU a series of "rational, reasonable, and justified conditions" before he will agree to the reconstruction loan scheme, and he has not excluded legal action if it "presents significant risks" for his country. Explaining the EU's Proposal? European Union officials is racing against time before next Thursday's summit to agree on a compromise that Belgium can agree to. Until now the EU has refrained from using the frozen capital directly but for the past year has transferred the "extraordinary revenues" from them to Ukraine. In 2024 that was €3.7bn. Juridically, using the interest is seen as safe as Russia is under sanction and the returns are not Russian sovereign property. But international military aid for Ukraine has fallen significantly in 2025, and Europe has struggled to make up the shortfall left by the US decision to virtually halt funding Ukraine under President Donald Trump. There are at the moment two EU proposals designed to furnishing Ukraine with €90bn, to cover a majority of its financial requirements. One is to secure the capital on capital markets, secured against the EU budget as a guarantee. This is Belgium's favored solution but it requires a unanimous vote by EU leaders and that would be difficult when two member states are against funding Ukraine's military. That leaves loaning Ukraine cash from the frozen Russian funds, which were initially held in financial instruments but have now mostly turned into cash. That capital is an asset of Euroclear held in the European Central Bank. The EU's executive acknowledges Belgium has justified fears and claims it is convinced it has addressed them. The plan is for Belgium to be safeguarded with a insurance encompassing all the €210bn of Russian assets in the EU. If Euroclear incur losses of its own assets in Russia, that would be offset from assets belonging to Russia's own settlement agency which are in the EU. If Russia took legal action against Belgium itself, any judgment by a Russian court would not be recognized in the EU. In a key development, EU ambassadors are poised to endorse on Friday to immobilise Russia's central bank assets held in Europe permanently. Heretofore they have had to vote unanimously every six months to renew the freeze, which could have meant a ongoing risk to Belgium. The EU ambassadors are planning to use an special provision under Article 122 of the EU Treaties so the assets stay blocked as long as an "clear risk to the financial well-being of the union" continues. Why Belgium is Remains On Board The Belgian government is insistent it remains a committed partner of Ukraine, but perceives legal risks in the plan and fears being forced to deal with the fallout if things go wrong. A usually fractured political scene in this case has united behind Prime Minister Bart de Wever, who is facing pressure from fellow EU leaders. "Belgium is a small economy. Belgian GDP is about €565bn – think about if it would need to shoulder a €185bn bill," comments Veerle Colaert, academic specializing in financial regulation at KU Leuven University. While the EU might be able to arrange enough guarantees for the loan itself, Belgium is concerned about an further exposure of being exposed to extra damages or penalties. Prof Colaert also argues the requirement for Euroclear to provide a loan to the EU would contravene EU banking regulations. "Banks need to follow stability regulations and shouldn't concentrate risk. Now the EU is telling Euroclear to do precisely that. "What is the purpose of these financial regulations? It's because we want banks to be secure. And if things go wrong it would be up to Belgium to bail out Euroclear. That's a further cause why it's so crucial for Belgium to secure water-tight assurances for Euroclear." EU Leaders Under Pressure from Every Direction Time is of the essence, state several EU member states including those neighboring Russia such as the Baltics, Finland and Poland. They maintain the scheme involving immobilized capital is "a economically realistic and practically possible solution". "It is a decisive moment for us," warns leading German conservative MP Norbert Röttgen. "If the plan collapses, I don't know what we'll do afterwards. That's why we have to reach an agreement in a week's time". Although Russia is unyielding its money should not be accessed, there are added concerns among European figures that the US may want to use Russia's immobilized billions for another purpose, as part of its own peace plan. Zelensky has stated Ukraine is working with Europe and the US on a reconstruction fund, but he is also aware the US has been talking to Russia about future co-operation. A preliminary version of the US peace plan referred to $100bn of Russia's blocked funds being used by the US for reconstruction, with the US {taking|receiving