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Report
Europe may hand $218 billion of frozen Russian assets to Ukraine
Business Insider
Follow
3/6/2025
As Europe mobilizes behind Ukraine, it's sitting on a $218 billion ace card — and it's being urged to play it
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Tech
Transcript
Display full video transcript
00:00
With the news that the US is pausing its military funding to Ukraine,
00:03
there's enormous pressure on Europe to step up even more.
00:06
But it does have one possible ace card, more than $200 billion of Russian assets
00:11
frozen in the European banking system.
00:14
The funds were frozen after the 2022 invasion.
00:17
They're being held as a means to make Russia pay for Ukraine's reconstruction in peacetime.
00:22
So far, nobody's touched it.
00:24
The most EU leaders have done is give Ukraine loans backed by some of the interest it generates.
00:28
But with signs that the US is going to stop funding Ukraine altogether,
00:32
calls to actually seize the cash and use it to fund Ukraine's defence have grown.
00:36
Most recently, former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called for the move,
00:40
along with Poland, Finland and the Baltic states.
00:42
Some analysts are cautious, warning that this could spook other countries
00:45
who hold assets with the EU, destabilising markets.
00:48
There's also some debate about whether it's better to hold onto the cash
00:52
as leverage for future peace talks with Russia.
00:54
Then there's the legal side of things.
00:56
Normally, a country's assets are protected from being seized by others.
00:59
But some legal experts have argued, as top lawyer Paul Reichler did in Congress last year,
01:04
that this protection doesn't apply when a country's actions are, quote,
01:08
egregiously wrongful.
01:09
Some campaigners believe that handing the money to Ukraine would strike a psychological blow
01:14
to Russia at a time when its economy and its labour force are teetering.
01:17
Big question, though, is whether Western leaders will actually go through with it.
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