Trump's administration wants to unfreeze Russian assets and take control of them – FT

The United States has proposed that European countries unfreeze some of Russia's sovereign assets and transfer them to an entity controlled by Washington in an effort to revive peace negotiations with Russia.

Source: Financial Times, citing four people familiar with the matter

Details: The idea was put forward by US President Donald Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner during a meeting with officials from Ukraine, France, Germany, the UK, the EU and NATO in Miami on 10 October.

Quote: "The US suggested several possible methods for unfreezing the assets, including for them to be moved into a new special-purpose financial vehicle overseen by Washington, the people said.

A US official said the use of Russia's frozen assets was discussed as part of a comprehensive peace deal and that the mechanisms of how they would be released and where they would be spent were still under discussion.

Many ideas have been floated as to how Moscow's frozen assets could be used after the war, the US official added."

Details: Ukrainian delegates confirmed that the issue had been raised at previous meetings with US representatives.

European delegates, however, firmly rejected the plan. European officials said they oppose relinquishing control of the Russian assets or returning any part of them to Moscow.

"They were told that this was just simply not going to happen," one source said.

Background:

• In 2022, in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Western allies froze around €260 billion in sovereign assets belonging to Russia's central bank. More than €210 billion of this is held in the EU, including at the Belgian securities depository Euroclear.
• In late 2025, EU leaders pledged to use these assets to fund Ukraine's reconstruction if Moscow refuses to pay reparations. Around the same time, Trump's administration presented its 28-point peace plan, which also proposed using frozen assets as part of a settlement.
• In late September and early October 2026, Witkoff and Kushner proposed a series of "economic incentives" for Russia in exchange for a partial ceasefire. These included the early unfreezing of some Russian assets, the sale of a stake in Russian oil company Lukoil to Middle Eastern investors and the easing of sanctions on Belarusian potash fertiliser exports.

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