The Kremlin said Wednesday that the European Union would be committing an “unprecedented violation” of international law if it used frozen Russian assets to arm Ukraine.
EU countries have been wrangling for months over what to do with the assets, with the bloc’s top diplomat Josep Borrell putting forward a plan on Wednesday to divert interest earned on them for Ukraine.
“The Europeans are well aware of the damage such decisions could do to their economy, their image, their reputations as reliable guarantors,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
“They will become the target of prosecution for many decades,” he warned.
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Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday that Moscow would inevitably respond to what she called “direct banditry and theft”.
EU officials say their latest proposal could see an estimated three billion euros a year used to help Ukraine.
The EU froze around 200 billion euros of Russian central bank assets held in the bloc as part of punishing sanctions imposed on Moscow for sending troops into its neighbour in February 2022.
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Most the funds are held by the international securities depository Euroclear, based in Belgium.
Under the EU plan, 90 percent of the money taken from the profits would go to a fund used to cover the cost of weapons for Ukraine.
The other 10 percent would be funnelled into the EU’s budget, where it would be used to help increase the capacity of Ukraine’s own defence industry.
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The push by the EU to find more funds for Ukraine comes as a $60 billion support package from the United States, Kyiv’s other major backer, remains blocked in Congress.
Dwindling weapon supplies two years into the conflict have left Ukraine’s forces outgunned on the front lines and struggling to halt Russian advances.
EU leaders are set to discuss the proposal at a summit in Brussels on Thursday and officials said the money could start going to help Ukraine by July if a quick agreement is reached.
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EU officials insisted their plan was legally sound because the profits being targeted were earned by the securities depositories as a result of the sanctions, and did not belong to Russia.
Some member states including Germany have been very cautious about any moves that could undermine the faith of overseas investors in the European financial system.
At the same time, Brussels is under pressure from Ukraine and the United States to go further and to seize the entire 200 billion euros’ worth of Russian government assets.
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