A number of EU countries called for revisiting the use of frozen Russian assets ...

A number of EU countries called for a return to the issue of using frozen Russian assets — FT

EU countries, including Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, and Poland, have called for renewed discussion of the possible use of frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, the Financial Times writes.

Talks on using Russian assets held in the EU under sanctions stalled last winter because Belgium, where most of that money is held, blocked the initiative.

According to four sources who reviewed the document, the letter to the European Commission calls for restarting the discussion and developing alternative legal and technical frameworks that could overcome Belgium’s veto.

“Now is the time to begin a new discussion of how we can further use frozen Russian assets for the benefit of Ukraine and in our own interests,” Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said.

In her view, “this is a fair and reasonable way to ensure that Ukraine is able to defend itself and all of Europe.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “these would be illegal actions” that “will have their legal consequences.”

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