Moscow, Mar 12 (FN Bureau) The European Union wants to confiscate Russian assets only if Moscow refuses to pay reparations to Ukraine after the end of hostilities, the German newspaper Die Welt reported. The EU believes that the confiscation of Russian assets will contradict international law, scare away potential foreign investors, and provoke Russia to confiscate Western assets, the report said. For now, the EU intends to limit itself to taxing the profits of central depositories that they receive from storing Russian assets, the report said, adding that the bloc expects to send the funds raised in this way to Ukraine. However, a mechanism for transferring funds directly to Ukraine has not yet been developed, the newspaper reported.
The EU is estimated to hold some $300 billion in Russian central bank assets together with its G7 allies—tthe United States, Japan, and Canada. The seven have been holding talks on how to tap the frozen funds, but Russia argues this is illegal and will ruin the West’s image as a safe haven for global money. On February 12, the Council of the EU decided that the profits from frozen Russian assets would be stored for their further use in the interests of Ukraine. European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen later suggested that the EU use these windfall profits to buy weapons for Kiev, marking a change in rhetoric from Brussels, which has previously discussed using Russian central bank money to finance Ukraine’s reconstruction.