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Hungary, Malta, Luxembourg oppose using frozen Russian assets to buy munitions for Ukraine

According to the unnamed European official, the three countries made their positions known during a meeting of EU ambassadors on Wednesday

BRUSSELS, March 14. /TASS/. Hungary, Malta and Luxembourg have come out against a proposal to seize investment returns earned on frozen Russian assets to buy munitions for Ukraine, Politico reports, citing an informed source.

According to the unnamed European official, the three countries made their positions known during a meeting of EU ambassadors on Wednesday. According to them, this option has complicated the talks because of the agreement reached earlier to allocate 3 bln euros out of such earnings toward aid to Ukraine.

On February 28, European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen said that the EU should consider the possibility of using investment returns earned on Russian assets frozen in EU depositories for procuring military equipment to be sent to Ukraine.

The EU, Canada, the US and Japan have frozen Russian sovereign assets with a total value of around $300 bln, of which $5-6 bln is held in the US, while the bulk is in Europe, including at Belgium’s international Euroclear securities settlement and depository services provider. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said that in the event of confiscation of Russian assets, Moscow will take appropriate actions, including reciprocal measures.

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