EU’s top diplomat acknowledges ‘some states’ against using frozen Russian assets

(MENAFN) European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has acknowledged that several EU member states remain firmly opposed to using frozen Russian assets to boost military support for Ukraine. Speaking in an interview with Estonia’s ERR broadcaster on Thursday, Kallas said the objections are rooted in legal and financial concerns.

Following the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Western nations froze roughly $300 billion in Russian sovereign and state-affiliated assets, most of which are held under EU control. Since then, Brussels has explored options to channel these funds—particularly the interest earned on them—toward aiding Kiev. Moscow has sharply criticized such plans, labeling them as outright “theft.”

“We’re preparing for possible actions, but we must consider the risks and how to manage them,” Kallas said. “Some countries are strongly against this.” She declined to name specific nations but hinted that countries holding larger amounts of the frozen assets are particularly wary. “Take Belgium, for example—they possess the majority of the funds and therefore see themselves as most exposed,” she noted.

The proposal to redirect Russian assets has sparked widespread debate in the EU, with countries like France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, and Austria cautioning against the legal ramifications of seizing sovereign funds outright. Others, including Hungary and Slovakia, have warned that such a move could heighten tensions and destabilize the region further.

Reacting to Kallas’s comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated that Russia would never relinquish its claims to the assets and would continue to assert its rights. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called Kallas’s remarks an example of a crime being planned in real time, rather than reviewed after the fact.

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