Ukraine wants to receive US$4bn from frozen Russian assets in 2024
Ukraine expects to receive US$4 billion from Russian assets frozen by the G7 and EU states in 2024.
Source: Iryna Mudra, Deputy Minister of Justice, in an interview with Forbes
Details: Mudra stated that Ukraine may receive a total of US$15-18 billion over the next four years, including around US$4 billion in 2024.
To do this, there are several stages to go through. Stage zero is to determine which institutions hold these funds, and it has already been done.
The first stage is that the European Commission has already made the decision: all accrued interest must be concentrated in a single institution.
The second stage is the implementation of the legislation in the EU, which allows for the transfer of these funds to Ukraine.
"We have had the negotiations with the representatives of Belgium, which presides in the EU Council at the moment. There is cautious optimism that the EU Council will adopt the decision by June 2024. If the decision is made, then Ukraine will receive the interest from the assets frozen in 2024," Mudra said.
The transfer of already accrued interest from 2022-2023 is also being considered. These funds are in Belgium, and were subject to a 25% tax in 2022 (about €1.7 billion). The Belgian government uses these funds for social payments to Ukrainian refugees, providing humanitarian aid etc.
The tax was not imposed on the 2023 funds. At the moment, talks about imposing a 100% tax on these funds and their transfer to Ukraine are ongoing. This is about €4.4 billion, and the decision of the Belgian government is enough for them to be transferred.
"Our principal position is that it be additional funding, not a part of the aid already approved by the EU. The international partners most likely will not approve the decision to spend these funds on the defence sector, so they will be directed at covering the budget deficit, social payments, rebuilding projects, etc." Mudra summed up.
Background:
On 12 February, the EU Council adopted a decision that would allow using frozen assets of the Russian Central Bank as aid for Ukraine in the future.
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