Germany’s Merz Supports Using Frozen Russian Assets to Arm Ukraine

Europe has finally found the will and a way to benefit from the frozen Russian origins to support Ukraine.

On Thursday, German Chancellor Friedrich Mirz called for widely mobilizing the assets of the frozen central bank to include Ukraine to about 140 billion euros (164 billion dollars), with funds for use only to provide Kyiv with a new weapon to ensure staying in the battlefield.

Europe has finally found the will and a way to benefit from the frozen Russian origins to support Ukraine.

On Thursday, German Chancellor Friedrich Mirz The name In order to widely package the Russian Central Bank’s assets to include Ukraine to about 140 billion euros ($ 164 billion), with funds for use only to provide Kyiv with new weapons to ensure that you can survive in the battlefield.

It represents a major transformation from the former German government, which – alongside Belgium and France – was deeply skeptical in touching Russian origins, which have It has been frozen In Western countries from the early days of the war on Ukraine. Belgium and France have always been keen on the legal effects of confiscating nearly 200 billion euros (234 billion dollars) in Russian assets currently in the hands of the European Union, for fear of judicial responsibility and a wider loss of confidence in the euro.

These signals are [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, we will fund Ukraine to fight, and with European weapons in it, and that we will take your savings, and I think this part is slightly questioned “if the basic assets are not already seized.

Mirz’s invitation after the European Commission President Ursula von der Lin had previously promised that Europe was working on some of the formula that would enable it to meet Ukraine’s financing needs for the emergence of European taxpayers, but with Russian money instead.

“We must be very clear: this is the Russian war, and the perpetrator must pay for it,” it is, it is He said On September 18 while submitting the latest proposed sanctions of the bloc to Russia.

The newly discovered European consensus comes to move more aggressively after US President Donald Trump was earlier this week. Appear to Wash his hands For more participation in the Ukraine war.

“The good news is that the money will go to Ukraine. There is a recognition of a large financing gap – it needs money, and this is the clear source,” said Timothy Ash. Sovereign strategic expert at RBC Bluebay Asset Management and Chatham House, a UK research center.

The increasing consensus on the most aggressive use of the frozen assets in Russia can focus next week at a meeting in Denmark for the heads of state and government in the bloc, where additional details are expected to be eliminated. Sophisticated plans give Europe a way to pick up the recession to support Ukraine even as the United States is declining.

“They were long prepared – the Europeans always knew that they could withdraw this lever, and they did so really small,” said Tordair.

What is less clear is the number of European Union member states that will support new measures, and how financing is completely done in practice. The two cases were linked: Just a few days ago, French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated his opposition to the confiscation of the frozen Russian assets, although it seemed more open to solving the financing of the novel After the meeting With Ukrainian President Folodimir Zelinski at the United Nations this week.

What is increasingly evident is that Brussels (and Berlin) are unwilling to allow member states of the European Union, such as pro -Russian Hungary and Slovakia, by preventing any additional measures within the European Union, which usually requires unlimited approval to agree to major steps, such as sanctions. Mirz stressed that the new financing plan can be approved with the “large majority”, not its entirety, for the member states of the European Union.

It seems that the plan, as drawn, is a larger version of something in Europe and a group of seven member states It has already been doneClick on attention from frozen Russian assets to warranty Simple loans To meet the immediate financial needs of Ukraine. (Russia does not have a legal claim for the benefits due to mature securities.)

The proposals are under discussion And according to what was mentioned Transferring the money held in Europe to Ukraine in slices and replacing them with the obligations of European Union debts in the long run, which would leave basic assets mainly without touching them, but it will immediately pack money to Ukraine. The payment will be associated with Russia, which provides war compensation to Ukraine at the end of the negotiating war.

Another idea is for the European Union member states, or the European Union as a whole, to issue new debts that will be secured by the frozen Russian assets.

“Russia will still have the basic assets, but the money will be used to finance Ukraine,” said Ash. “Russia will only regain money when compensation.”

One of the continuous differences between the proposals that come out of the European Commission and the plan that Mirz has set is what the money will be used for. Mirz wants to be allocated exclusively to defense, and it seems that he is repeating the Zelinski argument at the United Nations that weapons alone will determine the survival of Ukraine. The committee is still working on a financing package that covers the defense needs in addition to the reconstruction and other Ukrainian financing needs.

The United Kingdom, Canada and the United States together have $ 50 billion or so in the frozen Russian assets, and it is on board with a more aggressive mobilization of that money to finance Ukraine, making the total package more than 140 billion euros set by Mirz.

This month, Moscow repeat Its opposition to any move towards confiscating its frozen origins warns that there are “consequences”.

Many observers believe that legal arguments against confiscation are exaggerated, because Russia – through its use of aggressive war – has already abandoned any protection under international law It can be shield Sovereign origins. But even without this bolder step, dangerous amounts of money can be provided to Ukraine.

“It is disappointing that the assets have not been seized, but the key is that Ukraine has financing to survive and win the war. These numbers are large enough to make a difference.”