BRUSSELS, December 19. /TASS/. Participants of the European Union summit failed to agree on the expropriation of Russian assets. However, they instructed the European Commission to continue preparing instruments necessary for this.

Ukraine's funding will be provided from the EU budget in the amount of 90 billion euros, EC President Ursula von der Leyen announced at a press conference following the summit.

TASS has collected the main facts about the situation.

Summit’s decision

- Participants of the EU summit failed to agree on the expropriation of Russian assets, but instructed the European Commission to continue preparing instruments necessary for this.

- The EC President stated at a press conference that the EU had instead decided to finance Ukraine for the next two years in the amount of 90 billion euros through a pan-European loan at zero interest.

- This will be achieved through expanded cooperation between member states from the EU budget.

- Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia legally refused to participate in European financing for Ukraine.

- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that the European Union's funding of Ukraine for two years is a waste of money.

- The announced amount is 50 billion euros less than the proposed reparations loan (140 billion euros).

EU reluctant to return money

- The European Union has no intention of ever giving back its frozen assets to Russia, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever told reporters.

- In turn, von der Leyen stated that the return of assets to Russia will now require a special decision of the EU summit, which will have to be voted for by a qualified majority of EU countries.

- She also announced that the EU does not intend to return blocked assets to Russia unless Moscow pays reparations to Ukraine.

- A qualified majority in the EU means that 60% of EU countries (16 out of 27), where more than 55% of the EU population lives, must vote in favor.

Response

- Special representative of the Russian president for economic cooperation with foreign countries, Russian Direct Investment Fund chief Kirill Dmitriev said that the refusal to use Russian assets to finance Ukraine through the EU's illegal scheme would be a major victory for law and common sense.

- This was a powerful blow to the warmongers led by the head of the European Commission, he added.

- The New York Times called the failure of the plan to seize Russian assets under the guise of a reparations loan a political failure for von der Leyen and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.