Putin blasts attempted EU ‘robbery’ of Russian assets – POLITICO

BRUSSELS — President Vladimir Putin slammed EU leaders for trying to leverage frozen Russian state assets to fund a €210 billion financing package for Ukraine — despite the plan ultimately falling through.

Facing stiff resistance from Belgium, where most of the Russian assets reside in the financial depository Euroclear, leaders decided in the early hours of Friday to raise €90 billion in EU debt instead and lend the money to Kyiv, at zero interest, so it could keep defending itself against Russian forces.

The assets, however, will remain frozen until Moscow ends the conflict and pays war reparations to Ukraine. If that doesn’t happen, the EU reserves the right to use Moscow’s assets to pay themselves back.