OMM Newsroom
The United States has proposed that European countries unfreeze some Russian sovereign assets immobilized after Russia launched its war against Ukraine and transfer them to a financial vehicle overseen by Washington, in an effort to revive peace negotiations, the “Financial Times” reported on Wednesday.
The proposal was discussed at meetings in Miami last week involving US President Donald Trump’s peace negotiators and officials from Ukraine, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the European Union and NATO, the newspaper reported, citing four people briefed on the matter.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner outlined several possible ways to release the assets, including moving them into a new special-purpose financial vehicle under US oversight, according to the report.
European delegates rejected the proposal, which reportedly surprised European capitals and Kyiv and prompted questions about Washington’s approach to pressuring Moscow to end its war against Ukraine.
A US official told the newspaper that the use of frozen Russian assets had been discussed as part of a comprehensive peace agreement. The mechanisms for releasing the funds and deciding how they would be spent were still under consideration, the official said.
The official added that various proposals for the potential use of Russia’s immobilized assets after the war had been put forward over time. Ukrainian officials involved in the negotiations said the issue had also been discussed with their US counterparts at earlier meetings, the report said.
Western countries froze approximately €260 billion ($302 billion) in Russian sovereign assets in 2022 in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, with most of the funds held in the European Union.
The frozen assets have become a major point of debate among Ukraine’s Western allies as they consider how to finance Kyiv’s defence and reconstruction while ensuring Russia bears the financial consequences of the war.
