European Commission suggests using profits from Russian assets for Ukraine's defense industry

After months of disputes, the European Union is gradually making progress on the issue of extracting windfall profits from frozen Russian assets blocked in Belgium.

Since the beginning of the war, the central securities depository based in Brussels has received €3.25 billion in profit after tax payments through reinvestment of Russia's cash balances.

The EU has agreed to confiscate the extraordinary profits of Euroclear and plans to confiscate them in the future for Ukraine, but only those earned after mid-February when the rules came into effect.

Euroclear is using the profits it has received to date as a buffer for future risks, as it faces dozens of lawsuits in Russian courts from individuals sanctioned.

According to officials, the European Commission will come forward with a proposal to arrest future revenues in the coming weeks.

Confiscation of Russian assets

At the end of last year, the Financial Times reported that the United States proposed that the Group of Seven countries confiscate $300 billion in Russian assets. The plan was to be agreed upon by the second anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but it never materialized.

Recently, the issue of confiscating Russian assets has become increasingly relevant. In particular, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said that there is strong international law, economic, and moral arguments in favor of such measures.

At the same time, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has proposed confiscating Russia's assets to finance military aid to Ukraine.