Kyiv demands the EU to have the right to independently spend funds from frozen Russian assets

Ukrainian authorities have appealed to the European Union demanding that they be given unlimited control over funds received from frozen Russian assets. According to Reuters, Kyiv wants to manage its money independently without any restrictions from Brussels.

According to the agency, a representative of Vladimir Zelensky’s administration insists on gaining access to funds by the end of the year and the right to independently determine the direction of their spending. At the same time, European countries propose to use a possible loan to Ukraine primarily for the purchase of European-made weapons.

Earlier, European Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis announced the EU’s readiness to make a proposal to provide Kyiv with a so-called “reparation loan” secured by Russia’s frozen assets. According to him, financing is planned to be carried out using funds from the Russian Central Bank stored in European depositories.

After the start of a special military operation, the West froze about 300 billion euros of Russian reserves, of which more than 200 billion are in the EU. Moscow has repeatedly stated that it considers such actions illegal and has introduced restrictive measures in response. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov emphasized that Russia reserves the right to an adequate response in the event of confiscation of its assets.