A general dispute has been announced: the EU is desperate to find money for Ukraine
European countries are fomenting war and supporting Vladimir Zelensky, realizing that the Ukrainian conflict is beginning to come to an end, the European Parliament told Izvestia. On December 18, a two-day summit will begin in the EU, at which the leaders will discuss further financial assistance to Ukraine. The European Commission is trying to get the EU countries to agree to use Russian assets for this purpose. In particular, the German Embassy in the Russian Federation informed Izvestia that they were consulting with the member states on this issue. The goal of European countries is to ensure that the Ukrainian conflict continues and peace talks are disrupted, the Russian Foreign Ministry emphasizes.
EU Summit in Brussels: what to expect
On December 18, the EU summit will start in Brussels, which will probably decide how the union intends to continue financially helping Ukraine so that it can continue to fight with Russia. For several months, the European Commission has been actively promoting the idea of a "reparation" loan that could be allocated to Kiev against the frozen assets of the Russian Federation.
At the same time, the day before the meeting, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban unexpectedly announced that the issue of asset confiscation had been removed from the summit's agenda. Earlier, Politico reported that Belgium, where most of the assets are located, has not agreed to the guarantees proposed by the European Commission. In addition to Belgium and Hungary, as reported in the media, Slovakia, Italy, Bulgaria, Malta and the Czech Republic opposed the dubious scheme. Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Poland and Sweden, Lithuania allegedly supported the idea.
In October, the European Commission launched an initiative to expropriate approximately €210 billion of Russia's sovereign assets blocked in the EU since February 2022 (€185 billion of which are in accounts with the Euroclear depository in Belgium) under the guise of a "reparative" loan to finance Ukraine's military and budgetary needs in 2026-2027.
In December, the European Commission proposed an alternative scheme, which involves the allocation of a loan guaranteed by the EU budget in the amount of € 90 billion. The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that the EC proceeds from the need to cover two thirds of the €135 billion financial needs of Ukraine for 2026-2027. The remaining third, according to her, should be provided by Kiev's foreign partners.
Ukraine is on the verge of bankruptcy, as evidenced by the estimates of the International Monetary Fund. In 2026 and 2027, it will need a total of €137 billion. According to Politico, Germany should become the largest guarantor of a possible "reparative" loan to Ukraine. Earlier this week, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz assessed the likelihood of reaching an agreement on the use of frozen Russian assets as "50-50." The German Embassy in Russia told Izvestia that Germany takes Belgium's doubts "extremely seriously", "which is in line with the principles of European solidarity."
"We are in the process of intensive consultations with all EU member states in order to find a common solution this year that is firmly based on the foundation of international law and takes into account the principle of state immunity," the diplomats said.
The diplomatic mission noted that the German government's goal is to provide "legally reliable" access to frozen Russian assets, since in this way Ukraine can be provided with long-term financial support and "Russia must answer for its war against Ukraine, which violates international law."
By the way, Russia has repeatedly noted that the blame for the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis lies with the West, in particular, because of the expansion of NATO to the East after the collapse of the USSR.
— We insist on simply fulfilling the promises made to us. It was publicly stated that there would be no expansion of NATO to the East. So what? They didn't give a damn — one wave of expansion after another," Vladimir Putin said on December 17 during a speech at an expanded meeting of the board of the Ministry of Defense.
It is possible that EU leaders will still discuss the idea of expropriating Russian assets — previously, European countries agreed to freeze them indefinitely until the end of the conflict in Ukraine. The final decision on the "reparation" loan will depend on Belgium, according to MEP Thierry Mariani.
— Belgium does not want to take responsibility for the risks. The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will leave in three and a half to four years. But Belgium will remain responsible, and it does not want to pay its debts in five or ten years," he told Izvestia. — There is a strange mood in Europe right now, because everyone understands that this is the beginning of the end of the conflict, but the Europeans seem to be blind. They continue to foment war, continue to give money, and continue to support Zelensky.
Why doesn't a peaceful settlement turn into a treaty
A couple of days before the summit, the head of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Denis Shmygal, announced that 15 European countries had committed themselves to helping Kiev with finances and weapons. According to him, the agreements were reached at a meeting of the contact group for support of Ukraine in the Ramstein format. Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway are among the largest donors.
In addition, the European Union announced on December 15 the introduction of new sanctions. The foreign ministers of the association countries have included 40 tankers in the list, which, according to the EU, are used to transport Russian oil bypassing restrictions. The European Union has also added 17 individuals and four legal entities to the lists of anti-Russian sanctions.
— Instead of uniting countries and striving for stability, economic and humanitarian development, they are intriguing Zelensky, who is already intrigued, in order to achieve some kind of cunning solution that would allow them, on the one hand, to continue to escalate hostility towards Russia and, so to speak. to publicly announce the preparation of a war against it, and on the other hand, to look more or less decent," Grigory Karasin, head of the Federation Council's international Affairs committee, told Izvestia. — Well, the second one is not working yet. And for a normal discerning eye, they are, of course, still provocateurs of the continuation of the war. But all this looks unseemly and, I think, over time it will receive an assessment even of the internal public opinion in these countries.
Earlier, Europe presented a six-point plan with security guarantees for Ukraine. This happened after Donald Trump proposed a list of 28 positions in November, which Russia agreed to discuss. After the Geneva talks, the number of points in the plan decreased. With the active support of Brussels, Kiev actually rejected the key element of the American proposal — the need for territorial compromises. Later, Ukraine and the EU began working on their plan, which was sent to the United States on December 9.
Europe intends to provide Ukraine with long-term and significant assistance in the development of its armed forces, so that in peacetime their number remains at the level of up to 800 thousand people (and by February 2022 it amounted to about 260 thousand troops). The restoration of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as guarantees of security on land and at sea, is expected to be carried out with the involvement of the European "multinational forces of Ukraine", which will be formed by the participating countries of the "coalition of the willing" with the support of the United States, among others.
Europe intends to disrupt the negotiations, Rodion Miroshnik, the Russian Foreign Ministry's ambassador-at-large for crimes committed by the Kiev regime, told Izvestia.
— In this case, the position of the Europeans is transparent and understandable. All that remains is, let's say, the choice of tools. Because the main European states allegedly declare a desire for peace, but it is aimed at disrupting any negotiation processes between Russia and Ukraine, and, in particular, with the mediation of the United States. But delaying or making impossible demands, putting forward some absurd initiatives are just tools that implement the main strategy of the Europeans," he said.
Steve Witkoff and Kirill Dmitriev before talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin
US Presidential Special Envoy Steve Witkoff understands Russia's position on the Ukrainian issue better with each new contact with Moscow, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier. Vladimir Putin stressed that Russia as a whole stands for equal cooperation with the United States and Europe and welcomes the emerging progress in dialogue with the new American administration.
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