Plan to tap Russian assets for Ukraine slammed

The European Union's decision last week to use profits from frozen Russian assets for Ukraine's reconstruction has drawn a strong backlash from Moscow, which has threatened it would confiscate more EU assets in retaliation.

The European Council summit which concluded on Friday agreed to use profits generated by frozen Russian state assets for Ukraine's reconstruction. It also mandated the European Commission to prepare the necessary legal proposal by the end of the year for implementation, a move pushed by commission president Ursula von der Leyen for over a year.

About $280 billion of Russian foreign reserves have been frozen by countries that participated in the sanctions against Russia following the Russia-Ukraine conflict that began on Feb 24, 2022.