Politico: Trump intends to profit from frozen Russian assets

According to Isna, the “Paltico” website reported that “Donald Trump” with the terms of his new 28-point peace plan to end the war in Ukraine, has disrupted one of the most sensitive negotiations that are currently going on in Europe in connection with the support of Ukraine and has deviated from the path of European efforts to finance Ukraine in order to maintain itself in the war against Russia.

Politico explains in this article that EU officials have been trying for months to find a solution with the aim of using about 140 billion euros of frozen assets of the Russian government in this continent, mainly in Belgium, with the aim of continuing its support to Ukraine, and so far, their efforts have not been successful. They were eyeing this money because Ukraine is on the verge of running out of money early next year.

According to this report, the diplomats said that the negotiations that are being held in Brussels in this regard have now reached a very critical stage and the senior European officials are trying to prepare a legal text based on which they will use the frozen Russian credits to secure a loan for the Ukrainian government.

But the US government, in its proposed new 28-point peace plan to end the war in Ukraine, has included a mechanism to use the same funds for US-led post-war reconstruction programs in Ukraine.

In this document, it is stated that America receives “50%” of the profit from this activity.

Several European Union officials and diplomats said they were worried that the proposal, made by Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Wittkoff, would destroy their chances of unanimously passing a loan proposal for Ukraine among the 27 EU members.

European leaders are looking to finalize the agreement, known as the “compensation loan” agreement, at a meeting next month.

“This Witkoff idea is scandalous,” said a former French official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

He said: “The Europeans have tried their best to find a sustainable solution to use these assets for the benefit of the Ukrainians, and now Trump wants them to make a profit from these assets.” This proposal will probably be rejected by everyone.

A senior EU official also told Politico that Trump does not have the power to unfreeze frozen assets in Europe. In the meantime, a senior EU politician slammed Witkoff for the idea, saying: “He should go to a psychiatrist.”

The issue of how to use frozen Russian assets has become one of the most difficult issues for Ukraine’s allies, and they have yet to resolve this issue despite multiple layers of concerns about the potential legal, political, security, and economic consequences of such an action. Most troubling to them is that these assets are mostly held in a facility in Belgium called Euroclear, which exposes Belgians disproportionately to the risks of Russian retaliation.

end of message