The EU is considering new ways to strengthen sanctions against the frozen assets of the Russian Federation
The European Commission presented the EU ambassadors with three new options for extending sanctions on the frozen assets of the Central Bank of Russia for a long period. This is a key step in securing a $50 billion G7 loan to support Ukraine. About this informs Reuters.
In June, G7 leaders and the EU agreed to use interest from frozen Russian assets to finance a loan to help Ukraine withstand a full-scale invasion by Russia.
Russian assets frozen in the G7 countries amount to about 300 billion dollars, a large part of which is kept in Europe, in particular in the Belgian securities depository Euroclear.
To ensure the stability of the loan, the G7 is seeking assurances that EU sanctions against these assets will remain in place. Diplomats said that three options had already been previously discussed with the US.
“Possible scenarios were presented this morning after preliminary consultations with the US,” one of the diplomats said.
Extending sanctions every six months requires unanimous approval from all 27 EU member states, which has sometimes been used for political pressure. For example, earlier the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, delayed the adoption of decisions related to aid to Ukraine.
The three presented options provide for different periods of sanctions extension. The first option provides for a five-year blocking of assets with an annual review and the possibility of unfreezing assets by decision of a qualified majority of EU countries. The second option is to extend the asset freeze every 36 months, subject to a unanimous vote. The third option is to extend the duration of all Russia-related sanctions from six to 36 months.
The EU and the European Commission have continued to discuss these options since July, after the Commission first presented an informal proposal for a possible extension of the sanctions.
