EU Leaders Discuss Using Profits From Frozen Russian Assets to Arm Ukraine

Facts

• Leaders of EU member states on Thursday discussed a plan to use billions of euros of profits from frozen Russian assets to buy weapons and ammunition for Ukraine.¹
• The plan seeks to use the interest earned from an estimated €200B ($217B) of assets belonging to Russia's central bank — frozen in a Belgian bank after the outset of Russia's war with Ukraine — and use it to plug the gap from the stall in US spending. The interest is expected to raise €3B ($3.3B) annually.²
• The initiative is different from a push by US officials that seeks to get the EU to use the entirety of the confiscated Russian funds for military spending on Ukraine. According to reporting from Politico, European capitals have shied away from this idea because of legal and financial risks.³
• However, the EU pressed ahead with plans to use the interest accumulated on these funds. According to reporting from AP, the EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell got the green light for the plans from most of the bloc's foreign ministers ahead of Thursday's meeting.²
• EU leaders in Brussels will also look to formally put the block on a 'war footing.' The move will seek to ramp up European arms production in the case of a wider conflict with Russia.⁴
• In a letter sent to attendees prior to Thursday's meeting, EU Council Pres. Charles Michel said: 'Now that we are facing the biggest security threat since the second world war, it is high time we take radical and concrete steps to be defence-ready and put the EU's economy on a war footing.'⁴

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²Associated Press, ³POLITICO and ⁴The Guardian.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Euronews. The EU is prepared to continue to keep pressure on Russia and hold the Kremlin accountable for its illegal acts of aggression and the massive suffering and damage it has inflicted. These funds are needed to protect the future of Ukraine and if we deprive them of the weapons they need, Putin and Russia won't stop there.
• Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by TASS. This is banditry and theft — pure and simple. The proposed step of using revenue from Russia's frozen assets to arm Ukraine in the conflict is yet another example of the degradation of how the EU is degrading its own standards and violating its commitments to international law.

Predictions