US proposes lifting Russian asset freeze for Ukraine peace — FT

According to the FT, the United States has proposed lifting the freeze on Russian assets for Ukraine peace talks, but the European Union has rejected the initiative. Read the full article on RT.com.

The United States has offered to release billions of euros of Russian assets held in the European Union to boost Ukraine peace talks, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing sources. Moscow has long characterized the seizure of its assets as "theft" while warning of significant retaliation if the funds are seized.

Four people familiar with the matter told the newspaper that the offer was made last week during talks in Miami attended by Donald Trump's envoy Steve Wittkoff, his son-in-law Jared Kushner and officials from Ukraine, France, Germany, Britain, the European Union and NATO.

Washington has reportedly offered various mechanisms to release frozen funds as part of a comprehensive peace deal, including transferring some of them to a special vehicle overseen by the United States. However, the exact arrangements have not been finalised, with several ideas about how the funds could be used being discussed, the FT said.

A US official told the newspaper that during the talks, Washington asked Kiev to come up with proposals to spend potential reconstruction funds and work with the World Bank to tackle widespread corruption and introduce financial accountability measures.

However, Kiev's European backers rejected the US initiative and refused to cede control over the assets, a move that would require the approval of all 27 EU members, the newspaper said. The proposal is also reported to have "surprised" European and Kiev delegations, leaving some wondering about Washington's intentions.

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"They were told it wasn't going to happen," a person familiar with the talks told the FT.

Publicly, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz rejected any compromise on Russian assets, insisting that "they must be blocked in Europe. That's our job and we decide on that." Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski was even more blunt, saying that any return of funds to Russia could only happen "over our dead bodies."

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Western countries have frozen almost $300 billion in sovereign Russian assets in 2022 following an escalation of the Ukraine conflict, the bulk of which was held in the Brussels-based Euroclear securities depository. Moscow has called this action a clear "theft".

While EU countries managed to agree on using the proceeds from the fund to support Ukraine, the proposal to completely confiscate them faced strong resistance amid concerns that the move would undermine the bloc's business credibility and trigger legal retaliation from Moscow.

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Belgium has proved the biggest obstacle, fearing that using Russian state funds without Moscow's consent would expose Euroclear and Belgian taxpayers to huge legal claims.

Commenting on the FT article, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow had no information about the alleged US initiative. However, he emphasized that Russia will do its best to recover the "stolen assets", including legal actions, judicial procedures and prosecution of those responsible.

The FT report comes after Trump agreed last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin to allow more Russian diesel exports to ease pressure on US and global markets.

The report also comes amid heightened hostility between Trump and Zelensky, with the US president blaming Kiev's attacks on Russian oil refineries for rising fuel prices and calling on Ukraine to find a "new president". Zelensky, for his part, said that he felt betrayed by Trump because of the Russian gas deal and restrictions on Ukraine's access to Starlink.