NEW YORK, July 24. /TASS/. The European Union has suggested its member states several variants for long-time freezing of the Russian Central Bank’s assets, Bloomberg reported citing a draft document.
The first scenario envisages an open-ended immobilization of the assets that would be reviewed at regular intervals. Another one stipulates lengthening the roll-over period to 18, 24 or 36 months.
According to the report, the European Union, the United States and G7 countries have been working to finalize its plan of proving Ukraine with a $50-billion loan, using profits generated by Russia’s immobilized sovereign assets.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on June 14 that by stealing Russian assets, Western countries "will take one more step towards destroying the system that they created themselves and that for many decades ensured their prosperity, allowed them to consume more than they earn, and attracted money from all over the world through debts and liabilities." In his words, "now it is becoming clear to all countries, companies and sovereign wealth funds that their assets and reserves are far from safe, both legally and economically."
The European Union, Canada, the United States and Japan froze Russia's assets worth about $300 billion after the start of the special military operation. Of this amount, about $5-6 billion is in the US, while most of the money sits in Europe, including in the Euroclear depository in Belgium ($210 bln is stored there). The European Commission earlier approved a proposal to use the proceeds from the blocked Russian funds to help Kiev.