PARIS, October 22. /TASS/. The European Parliament approved the mechanism proposed by the European Commission for providing Kiev with a 35 bln euro loan, which is to be repaid using profits from frozen Russian assets. The plenary session in Strasbourg was broadcast on the European Parliament website. 518 MEPs voted for the mechanism, 56 MPs voted against, and 61 MPs abstained.
"With this vote we are sending a very strong message that we are using profits from Russian frozen assets for Ukraine," European Parliament President Roberta Metsola noted.
Following the approval by the European Parliament, the EU Council is expected to consider allocation of 35 billion euros to Ukraine before the end of this week.
However, European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders, who oversees attempts to expropriate Russian sovereign assets frozen in EU jurisdictions in the European Commission, stressed that Kiev will receive the loan only if the EU's preliminary political conditions are met, which will be set out in a separate memorandum.
The 35 billion euro loan from the EU is intended to become part of the G7 credit tranche, which should total $50 billion, or 45 billion euros. Earlier, European Commissioner for the Economy Paolo Gentiloni expressed hope that perhaps the rest of the G7 countries can allocate a little more funds and, in this case, the European Commission would be able to slightly reduce the European part of the 35 billion euro loan.
The bulk of the sovereign assets of the Bank of Russia blocked in 2022, amounting to about 220 billion euros, are located in the jurisdictions of EU countries. The European Commission's actions to expropriate income from Russia's sovereign assets are based on the EC's January 2024 ruling that income from the reinvestment of frozen assets allegedly does not belong to Russia. Most experts both in Russia and around the world consider this thesis to be legally null and void.
In July, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia would definitely respond to the theft of its assets in Europe. He stressed that Moscow intends to initiate legal prosecution of those involved. According to him, Europe has taken the worst path by deciding to use Russian assets to help Kiev.