The European Union is pushing ahead with a plan to use profits from billions of euros of Russian assets frozen in Europe to provide Ukraine with weapons and other assets, AP has reported, citing a senior European official.
EU diplomacy chief Josep Borrell got the green light to implement the plan from a majority of the bloc's foreign ministers this week, and he hopes EU leaders will approve it at a summit in Brussels starting on Thursday, media reports said.
The move comes at a time when Ukraine is dangerously short of ammunition, and U.S. efforts to get new arms funds have stalled in Congress.
The EU is holding about 200 billion euros in Russian central bank assets, much of it frozen in Belgium, in retaliation for the war in Ukraine. The bloc estimates that interest on that money could generate about 3 billion euros a year.
"The Russians will not be very happy. The amount of money, 3 billion a year, is not extraordinary, but it is not negligible either," Borrell told reporters.
A small group of member states, notably Hungary, refuse to supply arms to Ukraine, so these super-profits will be split. About 90% of the money will go into a special fund that many EU countries already use to receive compensation for weapons and ammunition supplied.
The remaining 10% will go to the EU budget to support Ukraine's defence industry. Countries objecting to sending arms will be able to claim that they are not arming the country, Borrel said.
