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Russia Today
18 hours ago
- Business
- Russia Today
EU to gamble with Russia's frozen assets
The European Union is looking to channel billions of euros in profits from frozen Russian assets into 'riskier investments' to boost funding for Ukraine, Politico has reported, citing sources. Officials reportedly view the move as a way to generate higher returns without directly tapping into the sovereign funds themselves, which would be in breach of international law. The proposal is part of a broader EU initiative to use profits from immobilized Russian assets – primarily Western government bonds held by the Brussels-based clearing house Euroclear – to support Ukraine's war effort. Moscow has labeled the seizure of its assets as 'theft.' Western nations froze an estimated $300 billion in Russian sovereign funds following the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022. Of that amount, more than $200 billion is held by Euroclear. The funds have generated billions in interest, with €1.55 billion ($1.78 billion) transferred to Kiev last July to back a $50 billion G7 the new plan, the assets would be placed into an EU-managed investment fund that could pursue higher-yield strategies, officials told Politico on Thursday. The goal is to increase returns without resorting to outright confiscation – a step opposed by countries such as Germany and Italy due to the potential legal and financial consequences. The EU's $21 billion contribution to the G7 loan is expected to be fully disbursed by the end of this year. With future US aid uncertain and the bloc's own budget under pressure, officials are exploring alternative ways to keep Ukraine's economy afloat beyond 2025, Politico reported. EU policymakers hope the plan will allow them to extract more revenue from the assets without violating international legal norms. The International Monetary Fund has warned that outright seizure could damage global trust in Western financial institutions. Talks among member states over confiscation have dragged on for more than three years without resolution. Brussels also reportedly sees the new investment structure as a safeguard in case Hungary vetoes the renewal of sanctions – a move that could result in the assets being returned to Russia. EU sanctions must be unanimously extended every six months, and Budapest has repeatedly threatened to block them, citing national interests. Critics caution that riskier investments could result in losses ultimately borne by EU taxpayers, the outlet has condemned the asset freeze and has threatened countermeasures, including legal action.
The Guardian
03-06-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Ukraine hits bridge linking Crimea to Russia with underwater explosives
Ukraine has detonated a massive underwater blast targeting the key road and rail bridge connecting the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula to Russia, damaging its underwater pillars. The operation, claimed by Kyiv's SBU security service, is the second high-profile operation by Ukraine in days striking significant Russian assets after a sophisticated drone raid on Moscow's strategic bomber fleet on Sunday. The attack came as Ukraine confirmed it had been invited to the Nato summit later this month, after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned it would be a 'victory' for Russia if it was not present. The latest strike on the 12-mile-long Kerch Bridge – a prestige project of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, which he opened in 2018 – comes amid what appear to be determined efforts by Ukraine to change the narrative promoted by the Trump administration that Kyiv holds few cards in the war. The mining of the bridge, which is heavily defended by Russian forces, follows the audacious long-range drone attack on airbases deep in side Russia, which Zelenskyy claimed had damaged '34% of [Russia's] strategic cruise missile carriers'. According to a statement from the SBU the operation against the bridge – the third in a series of strikes amid at disabling the key logistics route – had been planned for several months and involved the equivalent of more than a metric tonne of TNT, which it said had 'severely damaged' the base of the bridge supports. It is the third time that Ukraine has targeted the bridge since Moscow's full-scale invasion in 2022. In October 2022, a truck exploded on the bridge, while in July 2023, the SBU said it had blown up a part of the bridge using an experimental naval drone. Both times, Russia repaired the damaged sections. Lt Gen Vasyl Maliuk of the SBU, who supervised the latest operation, described the bridge as 'an absolutely legitimate target, especially considering that the enemy used it as a logistical artery to supply its troops'. He added: 'Crimea is Ukraine, and any manifestations of occupation will receive our tough response.' The SBU published footage showing a blast coming out of the water and debris flying, along with a photo of some damage to the side of the bridge. Road traffic on the bridge linking Russia and the Crimean peninsula had been temporarily suspended, Russian authorities said on Telegram on Tuesday. Russian state media reported it had been closed to traffic for about four hours. The attack on the bridge came as Russia said on Tuesday said it was wrong to expect a quick breakthrough in Ukraine talks, a day after Moscow rejected Kyiv's call for an unconditional ceasefire at negotiations in Istanbul – more than three years into Russia's offensive that has killed tens of thousands on both sides and forced millions from their homes in eastern Ukraine. The sides agreed on a large-scale swap of captured soldiers and exchanged their roadmaps to peace, or so-called 'memorandums', at the discussions, which lasted under two hours. 'The settlement issue is extremely complex and involves a large number of nuances,' the Kremlin's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on Tuesday. 'It would be wrong to expect immediate solutions and breakthroughs.' Peskov was speaking as Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy's chief of staff, arrived in the US along with the deputy prime minister Yulia Svrydenko to press for tougher sanctions on Russia. 'We plan to talk about defence support and the situation on the battlefield, strengthening sanctions against Russia,' Yermak said on Telegram. Moscow is demanding Ukraine pull its troops out of four eastern and southern regions that Moscow claims to have annexed, as a precondition to pausing its offensive, according to the document handed to the Ukrainians that was published by Russian state media. Kyiv had pressed for a full and unconditional ceasefire. Russia instead offered a partial truce of two to three days in some areas of the frontline, its top negotiator said after the talks. Peskov also dismissed the idea of a summit between the presidents of Russia, Ukraine and the US. 'In the near future, it is unlikely,' he told reporters, adding that such a summit could happen only after Russian and Ukrainian negotiators reached an 'agreement'. The White House had said on Monday that the US president, Donald Trump, was 'open' to the idea, which is also backed by Zelenskyy and by Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Zelenskyy's attendance at the Nato summit in The Hague from 24 to 26 June was welcomed by the Ukrainian president after reported misgivings over the potential for the renewal of friction between Zelenskyy and Trump administration officials. 'We were invited to the Nato summit. I think this is important,' Zelenskyy said on Monday after he held a meeting with Nato's secretary general, Mark Rutte, in Vilnius. Agencies contributed to this report
CNN
02-06-2025
- Business
- CNN
Drone strikes ahead of Russia-Ukraine peace talks leave Trump's credibility hanging by a thread
It was already hard to imagine a breakthrough emerging from the direct talks between Russia and Ukraine set to be renewed in Istanbul on Monday. But in the aftermath of what appear to have been multiple large-scale Ukrainian drone strikes against strategic bases across Russia, it's even less likely either side will be prepared to shift their red lines. Even before the latest strikes, which targeted Russian strategic aircraft thousands of miles from the Ukrainian border, the Kremlin had declined to formally set out, in the form of an agreed-to memorandum, what exactly it wants in return for ending what it refers to as its 'Special Military Operation'. But Russian officials have made no secret about their hardline terms, including sovereignty over all annexed territories, the demilitarization of Ukraine, immediate sanctions relief and what the Kremlin calls 'de-Nazification', involving things like guaranteeing the rights of Russian-speakers. Concerns about further NATO expansion toward Russian borders – especially Ukraine, but other countries too – have also been a consistent Kremlin grievance, as has the fate of hundreds of billions of dollars in frozen Russian assets abroad. There's been speculation in the Russian and Western media about areas for possible negotiation, and the outcome of the Istanbul talks are being closely watched for any hints of flexibility. But in the aftermath of what appears to have been a spectacular Ukrainian success, talk of Kremlin compromises may, for the moment, be off the table. Ukraine goes into this second round of direct talks bolstered by its apparent destruction of Russian strategic bombers and other crucial air assets. On Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelensky set out some of Ukraine's positions, including an unconditional ceasefire and the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia. But Russian demands for Ukrainian forces to withdraw from territory it claims but has not even conquered remain unpalatable, even more so now Ukraine has shown it can still strike deep behind the front lines. Even before the latest Ukrainian drone strikes, amid preparations for the peace talks in Istanbul, Russia was stepping up attacks on Ukraine in what seems to be the early stages of a new summer offensive. Overnight Saturday, Russia launched its largest drone attack on Ukraine since the beginning of the war – involving 472 drones. On Sunday, a Russian missile strike killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 60 at a training site for the Ukrainian military. As all this unfolds, an increasingly frustrated US President Donald Trump, who used to brag he could end the Ukraine war in short order, is now watching from the sidelines as a cornerstone of his stated foreign policy looks decidedly shaky. Neither his pressure on the Ukrainian leader, who Trump lambasted in the Oval Office, nor his recent scolding of the Kremlin ruler appear to have pushed the two sides any closer to a peace deal. Trump still has powerful levers to pull if he chooses, like imposing tough new sanctions, such as those overwhelmingly supported in the US Senate, or adjusting US military aid in a way that would dramatically increase the costs of fighting on. The measures may not be decisive, but they would send a message of US commitment. What Trump says he is tempted to do, though, is simply walk away from the whole mess. This is Biden's war, he insists, or Putin's and Zelensky's. But walking away – and it is unclear what that means in terms of US policy – may no longer be an option. At least not walking away unscathed. His own insistence on ending the Ukraine conflict, along with his personal interventions with the Ukrainian and Russian leaders, means that Trump and the United States are now inextricably linked with the outcome. That's why events on the battlefield and at the negotiating table in Istanbul are being watched so closely. Despite his regular attempts to disown it, the Ukraine war has very much become Trump's war on which US credibility now hangs by a thread.
Japan Times
21-05-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
Kyiv pitches tougher Russia sanctions plan to EU as U.S. wavers
Ukraine will ask the EU next week to consider big new steps to isolate Moscow, including seizing Russian assets and bringing in sanctions for some buyers of Russian oil, as U.S. President Donald Trump has backed off from tightening sanctions. A previously unreported Ukrainian white paper to be presented to the EU calls for the 27-member bloc to take a more aggressive and independent position on sanctions as uncertainty hangs over Washington's future role. Among 40 pages of recommendations were calls to adopt legislation that would speed up the EU's seizure of assets from sanctioned individuals, and send them to Ukraine. Those under sanctions could then seek compensation from Russia. The EU should consider a range of steps to make its sanctions apply more forcefully beyond its own territory, including targeting foreign companies that use its technology to help Russia, and "the introduction of secondary sanctions on purchasers of Russian oil." Such secondary sanctions, which could hit big buyers such as India and China, would be a major step that Europe has so far been reluctant to take. Trump had publicly discussed this before taking the decision not to act for now. The white paper also calls for the EU to consider using more majority-rules decision making over sanctions, to prevent individual member states from blocking measures that otherwise require unanimity. The European Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Ukrainian document. After speaking to Putin on Monday, Trump opted not to impose fresh sanctions on Russia, dashing hopes of European leaders and Kyiv who had been lobbying him for weeks to ratchet up pressure on Moscow. Trump spoke to Ukrainian and European leaders after his call with Putin and told them he didn't want to impose sanctions now and to give time for talks to take place, a person familiar with conversation said. The EU and Britain imposed additional sanctions against Russia on Tuesday anyway, saying they still hope Washington will join them. But Europeans are openly discussing ways they can maintain pressure on Moscow if Washington is no longer prepared to participate. 'Catalyze the EU' Publicly, Ukraine has tried to avoid any hint of criticism of Washington since President Volodymyr Zelenskyy received a dressing down from Trump in the White House in February. The sanctions white paper emphasizes the "unprecedented" sanctions imposed by the EU so far and talks up their potential to do more. It also includes a stark assessment of the Trump administration's commitment to coordination efforts so far. "Today, in practice, Washington has ceased participation in nearly all intergovernmental platforms focused on sanctions and export control," it said. Washington had slowed work in the monitoring group for enforcing price caps on Russian oil, dissolved a federal task force focused on prosecuting sanctions violations and reassigned a significant number of sanctions experts to other sectors, it added. It noted that two potentially major U.S. sanctions packages had been drawn up — one by the government and another by pro-Trump senator Lindsey Graham — but that it was "uncertain" whether Trump would sign off on either of them. Uncertainty over the U.S. stance had slowed the pace of economic countermeasures and multilateral coordination, but "should not prompt the European Union to ease sanctions pressure," it said. "On the contrary, it should catalyze the EU to assume a leading role in this domain." 'Huge strike' Ukraine is worried that Washington peeling away from the Western consensus on sanctions could also cause vacillation in the EU, which traditionally requires consensus for major decisions. "American withdrawal from the sanctions regime (would) be a huge strike on the unity of the EU. Huge," a senior Ukrainian government official said. The EU cannot fully replace the heft of the United States in applying economic pressure on Russia. Much of the impact of U.S. sanctions comes from the dominance of the dollar in global trade, which the euro cannot match. Still, U.S. sanctions relief for Russia would not spur a significant return of foreign investors and investment if Europe held firm, said Craig Kennedy, a Russian energy expert at the Davis Center, Harvard. "Europe holds a lot more cards than you'd think," he said.
Al Arabiya
19-05-2025
- Business
- Al Arabiya
Finland to use proceeds from frozen Russian assets to supply ammunition to Ukraine
Finland will supply ammunition to Ukraine by using proceeds from frozen Russian assets, the Finnish defense ministry said on Monday. 'Finland has been selected as one of the states implementing European Union measures to supply Ukraine with defense materiel using proceeds from frozen Russian assets,' the ministry said in a statement.
