War in Ukraine: EU pays 3 billion euros to kyiv thanks to frozen Russian assets

The European Union has paid a first tranche of 3 billion euros to Ukraine as part of a loan financed by frozen Russian assets in Europe, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der, announced on Friday January 10. Leyen. G7 leaders reached an agreement in October to use interest generated by Russian sovereign assets frozen in their jurisdictions due to international sanctions to guarantee a $50 billion loan to Ukraine. The EU’s total share amounts to just over 18 billion euros.

This money “will give Ukraine the financial capacity to continue to fight for its freedom and to triumph”assured Ursula von der Leyen on X. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Brussels decided to freeze Russian assets, private and held by the Russian Central Bank in the EU, a total of around 235 billion euros. However, this is not the first time that the EU has mobilized frozen Russian assets to finance its aid to Ukraine. Last July, it paid 1.5 billion euros using the interest generated by these assets, before the G7 decided on this loan of 50 billion dollars.

Still on the economic war front, the American and British governments announced new coordinated sanctions against the Russian energy sector on Friday. The Treasury Department detailed a series of sanctions targeting, among others, two of the main Russian companies in the sector, Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz.

The United Kingdom also sanctioned these two companies, “which alone produce more than a million barrels of oil per day, worth around $23 billion (22.5 billion euros) per year at current prices”according to the British government. A decision immediately denounced as “unjustified and illegitimate” by Gazprom Neft, a subsidiary of the large state group Gazprom, cited by Russian press agencies.