LONDON, December 18. /TASS/. Ukraine will face economic collapse if EU countries do not approve the transfer of a so-called reparation loan from frozen Russian assets to Kiev, The Financial Times reported.

According to the newspaper, Ukraine's economy will be more impacted by the refusal to transfer expropriated Russian assets than Europe will be by the geopolitical and reputational damage.

Earlier, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said upon his arrival in Brussels that the issue of expropriating Russian assets had been removed from the agenda of the EU summit to be held on December 18-19.

On December 12, the European Union Council decided to freeze Russia's sovereign assets indefinitely. The European Commission hopes to persuade EU countries at the December 18-19 summit to expropriate 210 billion euros in Russian assets, of which 185 billion euros are frozen at Euroclear in Belgium, to finance Kiev. On December 15, Euractiv reported that seven EU countries now oppose the European Commission’s initiative and that attempting to push through this decision would cause a serious split in the EU. According to Euractiv, Belgium, Hungary, and Slovakia, which initially opposed the project, were joined by Bulgaria, Italy, Malta, and the Czech Republic.

Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that the confiscation of Russian assets being discussed in Europe would be an act of theft. Russian Justice Minister Konstantin Chuychenko told TASS that the country's leadership has already been presented with options for responding to the potential seizure of Russian assets by Western countries.