NEW YORK, May 15. /TASS/. The US and European countries remain divided on how to use Russia’s frozen assets, The New York Times reports.

"While the United States and Britain have favored confiscations, significant objections have come from countries like France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan and Saudi Arabia," the newspaper writes. "They argue that confiscation would be a bad precedent, a violation of sovereignty and could lead to legal challenges, financial instability and retaliatory seizures of Western assets abroad."

"So the idea of confiscation appears dead for now. But proposals to seize and use the profits earned on those Russian assets - the interest on accumulated cash stemming from the sanctions, said Euroclear, a financial services company - are gaining considerable ground. Both the Europeans and Americans believe that those profits could be used without raising the same legal challenges or risks to the global financial system," the paper notes.

According to The New York Times, European countries "would like to transfer them to Ukraine yearly or biannually," while the US wants "to find a way to get more money to Ukraine more quickly."

Reuters reported earlier, citing Italian Minister of Economy and Finance Giancarlo Giorgetti, that the G7 finance ministers would discuss how to use the frozen Russian assets at a meeting in the Italian town of Stresa on May 23-25.

The EU, the US, Japan and Canada froze Russian assets worth a total amount of around $300 bln after the start of Moscow’s special operation in Ukraine. Around $5-6 bln of these assets are held at US securities depositories, while the bulk of the assets are in Europe. On April 24, the US Senate approved a package of bills on military aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, which particularly allow the US administration to confiscate frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine.