Austria backs idea to send Ukraine proceeds from immobilized Russian assets

Austria supports the development within the EU of a plan for the use for Ukraine’s needs of windfall profits off the frozen assets of the Russian Central Bank, and will not prevent the EU from financing the nation’s defense needs.

That’s according to Austria’s Federal Ministry for European and Foreign Affairs, Ukrinform reports.

"Austria supports the plan to provide Ukraine with income from the investment of funds of the Russian Central Bank", the ministry’s press service stated, commenting on Austria’s stance on the issue.

The ministry explained that the provision on the use of windfall profits, which is currently being developed within the EU, refers to the use of profit from the investment of immobilized assets of the Russian central bank, and not to the seizure of these assets. "This is not about the confiscation of the Central Bank's funds, but about the use of the profit derived off investments," diplomats explain.

In addition, the ministry note that Austria will continue refrain from preventing the EU from making decisions regarding the supply and financing of weapon systems and ammunition to Ukraine.

"In the future, we will abstain constructively when making decisions regarding the supply and financing of weapons and ammunition," the Austrian Foreign Ministry said.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, democracies across the world moved to block Russian assets worth a total of nearly EUR 300 billion. According to some estimates, most of these assets remain in financial institutions across European Union, including in Belgium.

According to open sources, Euroclear currently has on its balance sheet EUR 192 billion worth of assets belonging to the Russian Central Bank. The EU is looking for legal mechanisms to further deal with these frozen assets, as well as the interest accrued on them, which has reached EUR 5 billion over the past two years.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on May 6 that there is a consensus in Europe regarding the use of excess profits from frozen Russian assets. According to the chancellor, EU member states "reached an agreement, which is now being finalized, that we also want to use about 90% of these funds for Ukraine’s defense purposes."

Permanent representatives of the EU on Wednesday, May 8, agreed on principle on measures to use profits off immobilized Russian assets to support Ukraine’s recovery and its defense efforts in the face of Russian aggression.