LONDON, October 1. /TASS/. French President Emmanuel Macron criticized German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s idea to issue an interest-free loan for Ukraine worth almost 140 billion euro (roughly $164 million at the current exchange rate) secured on sovereign Russian assets frozen by the European Union.

"When assets are frozen, one has to respect international law," Macron told reporters on the sidelines of an informal EU summit in Denmark’s Copenhagen, as quoted by The Guardian.

On September 10, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the European Commission did not intend to confiscate frozen Russian assets in the West, but would use them to issue loans to Ukraine. The majority of Russia's sovereign assets frozen in Europe, just over 200 bln euros, are blocked on the Euroclear platform in Belgium. The depository has repeatedly opposed their seizure, warning that it could lead to Russia seizing European or Belgian assets elsewhere in the world through legal action. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz wrote in an article for the British newspaper Financial Times that his country advocates providing Ukraine with an interest-free loan of nearly €140 billion using Russian sovereign assets frozen in EU countries.