West European states want Russian assets to stay frozen
Russian assets frozen over the Ukraine conflict should remain immobilized until the hostilities are over, a group of EU nations and the UK said on Monday, calling for additional sanctions on Moscow.
The joint statement by the EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas, and foreign ministers of Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the UK, issued new threats against Russia and expressed readiness to “apply further pressure [on Russia] using all tools available, including by adopting new sanctions.”
“We reiterate that Russia’s assets should remain immobilized until Russia ceases its war of aggression against Ukraine and compensates it for the damage caused,” the document reads, referring to the roughly $300 billion in assets belonging to Russia’s central bank that has been frozen by the West since 2022.
The assets are primarily EU, US, and UK government bonds held in a Brussels-based securities depository. Moscow has called the asset freeze “theft.”
The statement comes after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen refused to consider lifting sanctions on Russia as long as the Ukraine conflict continues. She also rejected a US-Russia-proposed maritime truce between Moscow and Kiev in the Black Sea put forward by the administration of US President Donald Trump.
During recent talks in Riyadh, Moscow and Washington discussed reviving the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which would potentially include the removal of Western sanctions on Russian agriculture and fertilizer exports.
Speaking to French broadcaster LCI on Friday, von der Leyen insisted the restrictions “will remain in effect until a just and lasting peace is established in Ukraine.” After the conflict is over, the “sanctions might be removed,” she added.
The EU’s stance on the potential revival of the grain deal clearly shows the bloc does not want to contribute to the “efforts that Moscow and Washington are making” towards peace, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
“The lifting of sanctions from our banking institution, which deals with settlements related to agricultural products, is an integral part of the Black Sea initiative. And if European countries do not want to go down this path, then this means that they do not want to go down the path of peace,” Peskov said last week.
