EU working on transferring over $260 billion in frozen Russian assets to Ukraine for reconstruction

The European Union is working on mechanisms to utilize frozen Russian assets — worth nearly €250 billion — to compensate for damage caused by Russia’s aggressive war of conquest in Ukraine, said European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders.

He was speaking at a final press conference following the Restoring Justice for Ukraine conference held in The Hague, Ukrinform reported.

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"We will continue to work on the issue of financing reparations, because it is crucial to make Russia pay them,” Reynders said.

“We are working on that in all our discussions about Russian assets, whether private or public. We have €37 billion (almost $40 billion USD) of private assets in Europe, as well as more than €200 - 208 billion ($215 - 224 billion USD) of state assets."

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Reynders expressed hope for the "swift adoption of recent proposals concerning the use of proceeds from frozen Russian assets" for Ukraine's needs in its fight against the Russian aggressor. He estimates this revenue can amount to €2-3 billion euros ($2.1 – 3.2 billion USD) per year.

The launch for submitting applications to the Register of Losses caused by the Russian Federation's aggression against Ukraine helps "Ukrainian citizens who suffered human rights violations or became victims of serious violations of international humanitarian law” be “one step closer to reparations”, Reynders said.

"This Register is the first step — now we have to move to the Commission on Reparations, which many participants have spoken in support of today," he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier called for the transfer of $300 billion worth of frozen Russian assets from abroad to Ukraine.

The European Union Council approved a resolution allowing the use of profits from frozen Russian assets for Ukraine on Feb. 12. The decision enables the Council to decide on a possible financial contribution to the EU budget collected from this net profit to support Ukraine and its recovery and reconstruction at a later stage.

44 countries supported possible use of frozen Russian assets for the benefit of Ukraine on April 2.

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