EU leaders support the plan to use frozen Russian assets for the benefit of Ukraine

During a summit in Brussels Thursday, EU leaders supported cautiously exploring the windfall option despite the range of complex issues regarding how to use the sanctioned assets, according to people familiar with the talks.

The Russian central bank assets immobilized in the EU are expected to generate some €3 billion in windfall profits. 

As part of those efforts, the EU will seek support from G-7. The EU and US have already been talking about these plans. Discussions with the US and others will continue in the coming days and weeks. 

The European Commission is preparing a more detailed proposal to be presented by the end of summer. However, it currently faces a series of political and legal challenges. There is a legal risk that the plan could be challenged in court. There are also concerns that the interest and profits obtained from the frozen sovereign assets of Russia actually belong to Russia itself.

Source: Bloomberg