EU Transfers $1.6 Billion from Frozen Russian Assets To Buy Arms for Ukraine

The EU on Friday announced it was transferring about $1.6 billion in frozen Russian Central Bank assets to Ukraine for the purchase of weapons.

The step is the first time the EU has dipped into the frozen Russian assets to fund the proxy war and marks a significant escalation of the Western economic campaign against Moscow.

The transfer came after the EU agreed to provide Ukraine with about $3.2 billion per year using the profits made by the Russian assets. The EU has also agreed to a US-proposed plan to loan $50 billion to Ukraine and pay it back using frozen Russian funds, but it’s unclear when that will go through.

According to Euro News, 90% of the $1.6 billion will go toward weapons, and 10% will be spent on humanitarian aid. But the money is being wired directly into the Ukrainian government’s budget, and it’s unclear if there’s any real oversight.

Russia has vowed that it will respond to the EU or any Western country stealing its Central Bank assets. Western banks have warned against the plan to send Russian assets to Ukraine as they fear it will open them up to legal action if they’re involved in any of the transfers.

Ukrainian Justice Minister Denys Maliuska previously called the EU’s plan to provide the $3.2 billion each year “almost nothing” and demanded that Kyiv receive the approximately $300 billion in Russian Central Bank assets that are held by Western countries.