Estonian foreign minister says Europe can't "gift" €240 billion in frozen Russian assets to Putin

European countries are already seeking consensus so as not to give €240 billion in frozen Russian assets to Putin.

Source: Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna at an informal summit of EU foreign ministers in Warsaw, as reported by Ukrinform

Details: In June 2025, the fate of €240 billion in frozen Russian assets and the issue of extending sanctions against Russia will be decided. To extend European sanctions, a consensus will need to be reached, which requires appropriate work.

Tsahkna said that they were working hard to find a way out, as they needed this consensus or other decisions that form different coalitions to support the Belgian government, which actually owns most of these assets.  

He stressed that Russia's frozen assets cannot under any circumstances be "given" to Putin. Tsahkna noted that he could not imagine that any leader in Europe could come back from the June foreign affairs meeting and say that the EU gave Putin €240 billion as a "reward" for everything he had done.

An informal summit of EU foreign ministers began yesterday, with the United Kingdom also participating.

Background:

• Earlier, Tsahkna said that Hungary's blocking of the extension of sanctions against Russia would force the G7 and the EU to pay Ukraine multibillion-euro loans secured by Russian assets.
• Tsahkna noted that if Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán carried out his threat to block the extension of EU sanctions, this could place the financial burden of multibillion-dollar loans to Ukraine on the G7 countries and the EU, as these loans were secured precisely by revenues from frozen Russian assets.
• Most of the frozen assets are held by Euroclear, a financial intermediary based in Belgium.
• The European Commission is trying to develop a contingency plan in case the sanctions are not extended, but most of the legal options are fraught with serious difficulties.
• Therefore, Estonia supports the complete seizure of Russian assets by the G7 countries rather than simply freezing them.
• Earlier, it was reported that the European company Euroclear will transfer €3 billion in frozen Russian funds to Western investors who worked in Russia and whose funds Moscow confiscated last year.
• Euroclear plans to seize and redistribute these Russian funds frozen in a Belgian company.
• This opportunity became available to the EU authorities in 2024 after a change in the sanctions regime. The competent authority has given permission to consider compensation amounts and their use.
• Earlier, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the European Union would not allow a return to dependence on gas and oil from the aggressor. She said that dependence on Russia was harmful to the EU's security and economy.
• The European Commission president acknowledged that energy imports from Russia had recently increased slightly in Europe but predicted that it would be temporary.
• It was also reported that the European Union is considering imposing sanctions against the Dubai-based trading arm of Russian oil giant Lukoil PJSC. Lukoil's parent company was the second-largest seller of Russian oil on foreign markets last year.

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