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Top EU diplomats to discuss use of frozen Russian assets — German minister

The EU is already expropriating revenues from refinancing of illegally frozen Russian assets, Johann Wadephul noted

BERLIN, August 28. /TASS/. The German government has no "final opinion" regarding the possibility of expropriating frozen Russian assets, Foreign Minister of Germany Johann Wadephul said at a press conference.

The possibility of using frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine will be discussed at the forthcoming informal meetings of EU foreign ministers in Copenhagen on August 29-30. "This will be one of the items for discussion at the informal ministerial meeting in Copenhagen. There is a need to shed the light on difficult legal issues and implications for the financial market stability," Wadephul said.

The EU is already expropriating revenues from refinancing of illegally frozen Russian assets, the minister noted. "We will continue discussions," he added.

The greater portion of immobilized Russian assets, slightly more than 200 bln euro, is blocked with the Euroclear depository in Belgium. The depository repeated spoke against the expropriation of assets, cautioning that it may entail the seizure of European or Belgian assets by Russia through courts in other parts of the globe.

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