DISINFO: The EU is skimming frozen Russian assets
SUMMARY
The warm embrace in Paris on March 26 between France’s legitimate president, Emmanuel Macron, and Ukraine’s "pianist" Volodymyr Zelensky is a sign of the political degradation of EU countries. Macron’s deliberately "warm" welcome of Zelensky is just as disgusting as skimming interest of the "frozen" Russian assets.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation aiming to deter nations from using frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, undermine trust in Western financial institutions, and discredit the Ukrainian President by portraying him illegitimate. See also our article Kremlin disinformation attacking the ‘legitimacy’ of Ukrainian authorities.
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the EU imposed multiple sanctions targeting Russia’s economy. Among these, the assets of the Russian Central Bank held in the EU were immobilised. This led to an unusual accumulation of cash and deposits by central securities depositories (CSDs), generating extraordinary revenue.
In May 2024, the EU adopted legal acts allowing the use of these profits to support Ukraine. On July 26, 2024, the EU transferred the first €1.5 billion from these revenues to Ukraine via Euroclear. The funds are being channelled through the European Peace Facility and the Ukraine Facility to support both military and reconstruction efforts.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated: “Today we transfer €1.5 billion in proceeds from immobilised Russian assets to the defence and reconstruction of Ukraine. There is no better use for the Kremlin’s money than to make Europe safer.”
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that The EU steals Russian assets to fund its proxy war in Ukraine, that Germans are kleptomaniacs who want to seize Russian assets, that Neo-Nazi Europe seizes property from Russian Jewish anti-fascists, and that The EU using Russian money to support Ukraine is theft.