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BRUSSELS, June 21The finance ministers of the European Union countries instructed their deputies to prepare proposals by mid-July for a mechanism for allocating a loan to Ukraine in the amount of 50 billion euros, which is supposed to be repaid from income from Russian assets frozen in the EU, Belgian Finance Minister Vincent van Peteghem said at a press conference following the meeting. heads of finance ministries of the community countries in Luxembourg on Friday.
Belgium holds the presidency of the EU Council until the end of the month. The jurisdiction of this country also includes the Euroclear depositary, in whose accounts most of the frozen Russian assets are stored.
“We will now work at the level of deputies on technical issues. They are tasked with preparing specific proposals for the next meeting of EU finance ministers in mid-July,” the Belgian minister said.
Earlier, he said that the EU will continue to discuss the mechanism for providing a loan to Ukraine of 50 billion euros with repayment from income from Russian assets during Hungary's chairmanship. Hungary will assume the presidency of the EU Council in July and its presidency will last until the end of the year.
European Commissioner for the Economy Paolo Gentiloni said earlier on Friday that a mechanism to repay the loan to Ukraine from proceeds from Russian frozen assets could be developed “within months.” At the same time, according to him, the EU is also discussing a possible change in the procedure for extending anti-Russian sanctions in order to guarantee the long-term possibility of repaying the loan even if restrictions against the Russian Federation and its assets are lifted.
On May 21, the EU Council approved Josep Borrell’s proposal , which involves directing 90% of the income received by depositories from Russian assets immobilized in the EU to the EU budget to provide military assistance to Ukraine, another 10% will be directed to programs for the restoration of Ukraine.
At the same time, the G7 countries, during the June summit in Italy, promised that they would provide Ukraine with loans worth about $50 billion by the end of the year, which would be repaid from income from Russian assets.
At the same time, earlier the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, promised Kyiv to transfer the first money from the proceeds from the frozen assets of the Russian Federation in July of this year.
After Russia began a special operation in Ukraine, the EU and G7 countries froze almost half of Russian foreign exchange reserves in the amount of about 300 billion euros. About 200 billion euros are in the EU, mainly in the accounts of the Belgian Euroclear — one of the world's largest settlement and clearing systems.
The Kremlin stated that making such decisions “would be another step in violating all the rules and norms of international law.” The Russian Foreign Ministry called the freezing of Russian assets in Europe theft, noting that the EU is targeting not just the funds of private individuals, but also the state assets of Russia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that Russia will be responsible in the event of confiscation of frozen Russian assets in the West. According to him, 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.”
Russia believes that arms supplies to Ukraine interfere with the settlement, directly involve NATO countries in the conflict and are “playing with fire.” Lavrov noted that any cargo that contains weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia. According to him, the United States and NATO are directly involved in the conflict, including not only by supplying weapons, but also by training personnel in Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and other countries. The Kremlin stated that pumping Ukraine up with weapons from the West does not contribute to negotiations and will have a negative effect.