The first day of the EU summit failed to reach an agreement on the use of Russian assets.

The EU failed to reach an agreement on the use of Russian assets on the first day of the summit

Sputnik News, Brussels - On the first day of the EU summit, EU leaders failed to reach an agreement on how to use the assets of the Russian Central Bank. The issue was not even mentioned in the statement released after the first day of discussions.

Earlier on December 18, European Commission President von der Leyen stated that national leaders would not leave the EU summit before a plan for funding Ukraine for the next two years was found.

The post-summit statement started directly from the second chapter, which dealt with the Middle East issue, indicating that due to the lack of consensus among EU leaders on the Ukraine issue, the first chapter related to Ukraine was not published.

The European Commission is striving to get EU member states to agree to use Russian sovereign assets to assist Kyiv. The discussion amount ranged from 185 billion euros to 210 billion euros, provided as loans, and Ukraine would have to repay them after the conflict ends and "when Moscow pays for material losses." In response, the Russian Foreign Ministry has stated that the idea of the EU demanding Russia pay war compensation to Ukraine is unrealistic, and Brussels has long been stealing Russian assets.

After Russia's special military operation against Ukraine, the EU and G7 froze nearly half of Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves, totaling about 300 billion euros. Over 200 billion euros are stored in the EU, mainly in accounts at the Euroclear bank in Belgium, one of the world's largest clearing and settlement systems.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the idea of the EU demanding Russia pay war compensation to Ukraine is unrealistic, and Brussels has long been stealing Russian assets. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zarakhova said that Russia will respond to any possible actions by the EU to seize Russia's frozen assets.

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1851886147275786/

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