London and Brussels to discuss mechanisms for seizing frozen Russian assets
The United Kingdom and the EU are negotiating legal mechanisms to seize Russian assets worth billions of dollars despite resistance from several European countries.
Photo: Sasun Bughdaryan, Unsplash
On Tuesday, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas will meet in London to discuss the possibility of seizing frozen Russian assets.
According to Interfax-Ukraine, citing Bloomberg, both sides are exploring legal pathways to allocate these funds for defense needs.
Sources indicate that the talks are taking place amid disagreements within the EU. Belgium and Germany are concerned that asset confiscation could violate the principle of state immunity and affect the euro's exchange rate. However, significant progress has already been made on this issue.
Currently, the EU, G7, and Australia have frozen Russian Central Bank assets worth approximately $280 billion, along with an additional $58 billion in assets belonging to Russian individuals.
The future of these funds remains a key issue in European sanctions policy.
Earlier, it was reported that the EU extended sanctions against Russia until September, removing three names from the list, despite Hungary's push to lift restrictions on eight individuals. Meanwhile, the EU is developing its 17th sanctions package, despite the threat of it being blocked by Budapest.