Brussels wants to use the frozen assets of Russia’s central bank to generate profits that could be deployed in the reconstruction of Ukraine, as the country’s critical infrastructure comes under sustained attack 10 months into the war.
Under a European Commission proposal, the EU would shift the liquid assets of the Russian state that were frozen under sanctions into a fund, which would be actively managed to generate a “stable and fair net return” to help pay to rebuild Ukraine.
The underlying assets would not be permanently confiscated under the plan, but would be returned to the Russian state if a peace agreement were signed, according to a discussion paper, which stressed the need for co-ordinated action at an international level.