By KYIV. May 11 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The EU is exploring the possibility of using frozen Russian assets in the interests of Ukraine, but the EU must at the same time keep within the legal framework that does not allow unjustified confiscation of funds, European Commission Spokesman Christian Wieganda has said.
At a briefing in Brussels on Thursday, the spokesman said at that stage, the frozen assets of individuals and organizations included in the sanctions lists of the European Union in the EU amount to about EUR 24.1 billion. He said restrictive measures prescribe the freezing of assets, but they do not allow them to simply be seized, since there is no legal basis for this.
The European Commission’s spokesman said the commission’s officials agreed to prosecute individuals who circumvent the restrictive measures, and work in this direction, in cooperation with lawmakers, has successfully advanced. He also said it should allow for the seizure of assets in case of circumvention of sanctions, since the commission must act in a manner that is consistent with the rule of law and criminal law.
Wieganda said member states are also discussing frozen Russian state assets owned by the Central Bank of Russia.
He said discussions about this are ongoing and the idea is to work on these assets and use the income from them. Wieganda said the rule of law must also be observed and these funds cannot simply be seized without an acceptable reason or without a carefully crafted legal justification. According to him, the commission officials seek to understand, what can they do with these immobilized assets in order to use them in the interests of Ukraine.
He said the topic of using assets of Russian origin for Ukraine is one of the most relevant in negotiations with the United States. This option is also being explored by some EU member states, the spokesman said.
