However, the EU's top diplomat expressed doubts there would be "anything left" of the Russian assets when they were returned.
The new European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, said that Russia will never recover sovereign assets frozen by the EU under sanctions related to Ukraine.
In an interview with Politico on December 10, the EU's top diplomat acknowledged that Russia has a "legitimate claim" to assets frozen by the West since the Ukraine conflict escalated in 2022. However, Kallas added that the European Union should use the money to rebuild Ukraine before returning anything left over.
“But I doubt there will be anything left,” said the former Estonian prime minister, who left office to take up an EU post. Kallas did not clarify whether she was referring to the profits generated by the Russian assets or the assets themselves.
The United States and its allies have frozen about $300 billion in assets belonging to the Russian Central Bank since 2022. The bulk of that money, about 197 billion euros ($213 billion), is held at the Belgium-based Euroclear clearinghouse, which has generated 5.15 billion euros ($5.55 billion) in interest in the first three quarters of this fiscal year.
Earlier this year, the EU decided to provide Ukraine with a portion of the proceeds. In July, the European Commission announced that it would allocate €1.5 billion to Kiev, mostly for weapons, as the first tranche of aid.
In a press release in October, Euroclear announced that it had made the first payment of about 1.55 billion euros ($1.63 billion) to the European Fund for Ukraine in July. The second tranche, expected to amount to 1.9 billion euros, could be disbursed next spring.
In June, the G7 countries also agreed to provide Kiev with a $50 billion aid package sourced from the proceeds of frozen assets of the Russian Central Bank. The EU and the US have recently approved contributions of $35 billion and $20 billion, respectively, to the package.
Russia has repeatedly accused the West of “stealing” its money. On December 10, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov described the transfer of $20 billion to Kiev, announced by the US Treasury the day before, as “a robbery organized by the G7.”
Ms Kallas took over as EU foreign policy chief from Josep Borrell on December 1. She has advocated tougher sanctions against Russia and is known for her hardline stance against Moscow.
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said last month that Russia would use income from frozen assets of Western investors to respond to the US and EU moves.
