Kuleba: Ukraine welcomes decision to send Ukraine profits from seized Russian assets

Ukraine is grateful to European partners for the decision to utilize profits from Russian assets frozen in the EU to help the nation repelling Russian aggression.

The Ukrainian authorities are now waiting for the next step – confiscation of those assets as such – as stated by the Minister for Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba, who spoke at a joint press conference with the head of the German Foreign Ministry, Annalena Baerbock in Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The head of Ukrainian diplomacy recalled that early this year he foresaw the three steps by which the situation of frozen Russian assets would develop. Step 1 was was the decision to transfer taxes on interest from frozen assets to Ukraine.

Read also: Council of the EU approves using revenues from frozen Russian assets in support of Ukraine

"Now we’re seeing Step 2 – this is, in fact, the fate of the interest accrued on those assets... This year alone, this interest will reach EUR 3 billion. But we all know that the total value of the frozen assets is about EUR 260 billion. That is, despite all our gratitude for today's decision, these amounts are not commensurate. Therefore, Step 3, which we talked about early  this year, should actually be the confiscation of those very assets," said Kuleba.

According to the foreign minister, the German side has "its own concerns" in this regard.

Read also: State Department confirms its intention to confiscate Russian assets in US in favor of Ukraine

"But we have to find a solution to those as well. Russia must pay," the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, the Council of Ministers of the EU on Tuesday, May 21, adopted a decision on the use of profits from assets of the Russian Central Bank frozen on the territory of the EU to help Ukraine.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Jan Lipavsky, said they amount to EUR 3 billion this year alone, of which 90 percent will go to the Ukrainian military.