COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Saturday it was not possible to imagine giving back Russian assets frozen inside the bloc due to the war in Ukraine unless Moscow has paid reparations.
“We can’t possibly imagine that … if … there is a ceasefire or peace deal that these assets are given back to Russia if they haven’t paid for the reparations,” she told reporters before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Copenhagen.
The EU says some 210 billion euros ($245.85 billion) of Russian assets are frozen in the bloc under sanctions imposed on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine and some EU countries, including Poland and the Baltic states, have called for the EU to confiscate the assets and use them to support Kyiv.
But EU heavyweights France and Germany — along with Belgium, which holds most of the assets — have rebuffed such calls.
They have pointed out that the EU has earmarked future profits from the assets to repay support for Ukraine and questioned whether there is a legal basis to confiscate them.
Diplomats say the debate is now turning to how the funds might be used, after the war in Ukraine comes to a halt.
($1 = 0.8542 euros)
(Reporting by Andrew Gray, editing by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen)
