Statements

By Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Nathalie Loiseau and Hugo Dixon August 28, 2026 In December 2025, the European Council invited the Commission to work on the technical and legal aspects of using the immobilised Russian assets. This paper sets out how the first step should be to transfer custody to a new European Union instrument. It explains how this would operate and annexes a draft regulation giving it legal form. The European Union has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Ukraine

August 20, 2026 “The Russian Transfer” is the answer to Belgium’s insistence that it is protected from risk if Russian sovereign assets in the European Union are used to help Ukraine. Under this proposal, the frozen Russian accounts in Belgium and elsewhere would be transferred to the EU itself as custodian. This would take Belgium, where the bulk of the assets are sitting, out of the line of fire and ensure that any risks are shared by the EU as a whole. Belgium confirmed th

Statement by Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer Nathalie Loiseau Daleep Singh The EU should immediately transfer custody of the frozen Russian Central Bank accounts in the bloc to a new EU custodian. Doing so now would strengthen Ukraine’s negotiating position whether the war continues or peace talks begin. The EU would become custodian of the accounts, taking on the liabilities to Russia as well as the €210 billion assets. This is not confiscation as the Central Bank of Russia woul