War in Ukraine: EU counts on frozen Russian assets as leverage in negotiations with Moscow

250 billion euros. This is the significant amount of Russian assets frozen since the start of the war in Ukraine. And this stash could well weigh in the peace negotiations. In any case, President Emmanuel Macron confirmed that the frozen Russian assets would be on the table for discussions with the Kremlin during his meeting with Donald Trump on Monday .

Although international law prohibits them from using them, the Europeans have nevertheless decided to make the most of this money deposited in the European Union by the Russian central bank by storing a significant portion at Euroclear, a depository based in Brussels. The interest generated by these investments has made it possible to provide financial support to kyiv, such as the transfer of one and a half billion euros made last July and more recently another of three billion euros at the beginning of the year.

According to the American news agency Reuters, Russia could agree to give up its frozen assets by selling them to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine, the cost of which is estimated at nearly 500 billion dollars. Part of the bill, about a fifth, would however concern territories that Moscow controls in Ukraine. But for the moment, this scenario is not unanimous among the Twenty-Seven and the head of European diplomacy stressed yesterday the absence of consensus on the question.

In total, the European Union has implemented no fewer than 16 packages of sanctions against Russia, the latest of which was adopted on Wednesday by European ambassadors in Brussels . "The position of the Europeans remains clear, an agreement entirely to the benefit of Russia is unacceptable," Célia Belin, from the European Council on Foreign Relations, reminded AFP last week.

"If there is such an agreement, they will not help to implement it, they will not lift sanctions for example."

The only problem is that the renewal of these sanctions is decided unanimously every six months by the 27. Hungary, the Kremlin's best ally in the European Union, has repeatedly threatened to veto this renewal, which is essential for these sanctions to remain in force. It did not oppose the introduction of a sixteenth package on Wednesday but could change its mind if the United States puts pressure on Western sanctions to be abandoned. It is a risk but it is unlikely that Europeans will "let their foreign policy be dictated by a single country", believes Célia Belin.