BRUSSELS, Apr 23 The largest party in the European Parliament — the European People's Party (EPP) — in its letter called on the EU to follow for the United States to decide on the complete confiscation of Russian frozen assets in favor of Ukraine, which Moscow has repeatedly called theft and promised a response.
The EPP's letter appeared ahead of the expected debate in the European Parliament on Tuesday on the EU's actions regarding the frozen sovereign assets of the Russian Federation. “All Russian frozen assets, and not just the profits they generate, should be used for reparations for damage caused to Ukraine,” the document says.
The EPP added that it is necessary to “take an example” from the United States. “The US authorities, after approval by Congress, will implement a mechanism to confiscate 20 billion dollars of Russian frozen assets… The time has come for us to make a bold decision… and confiscate all 300 billion euros of frozen Russian assets,” the deputies indicated.
They also called on the European Commission and the EU foreign policy service to submit a corresponding report on potential opportunities «both at EU and national levels.»
The US House of Representatives on Saturday overwhelmingly passed a bill to allocate almost $61 billion to Ukraine, as well as a bill that includes a provision for the confiscation of Russian sovereign assets in favor of Ukraine.
Unfriendly countries have been imposing sanctions against Russia since February 2022; as a result, both sovereign assets and funds of private investors were frozen. The country's foreign exchange reserves were frozen in the amount of about $300 billion. Almost immediately, talk began about the confiscation of these assets by foreign countries for various purposes. In October 2022, EU leaders instructed the European Commission to prepare proposals for using frozen assets to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine.
In the Russian Federation they called the freezing of Russian assets in the West theft. Russia will be responsible in case of confiscation of frozen Russian assets in the West, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier. He added that the Russian Federation “also has the opportunity not to return those funds that Western countries kept in Russia and which were frozen in response to the arrest of Russian state reserves; there can be no doubt that we will act mutually.”
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