Tehran - BORNA - Politico reported that US President Donald Trump, with the provisions of his new 28-point peace plan to end the war in Ukraine, is disrupting one of the most sensitive negotiations currently underway in Europe regarding support for Ukraine, and diverting European efforts to finance Ukraine to sustain itself in the war against Russia.
Politico explains that European Union officials have been trying for months to find a solution to use the approximately €140 billion in frozen Russian state assets on the continent—mainly in Belgium—with the aim of continuing their support for Ukraine, and so far, their efforts have been unsuccessful. They have focused on this money because Ukraine is on the verge of running out of funds early next year.
According to the report, diplomats said that the negotiations being held in Brussels in this regard have now reached a very sensitive stage, and senior European officials are trying to draft a legal text based on which they would use the frozen Russian credits to secure a loan for the Ukrainian government.
However, the US administration, in its new 28-point peace plan for ending the war in Ukraine, has devised a mechanism for using those same credits for US-led post-war reconstruction programs in Ukraine.
The document states that the US would receive "50 percent" of the profits resulting from this activity.
Several EU officials and diplomats said they are concerned that this proposal, put forward by Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, could ruin their chances of unanimously passing the proposed loan plan for Ukraine among the 27 EU members. European leaders are looking to finalize this agreement, known as the "Compensation Loan" agreement, at a summit next month.
A former French official, who did not disclose their name, said: "This idea from Witkoff is scandalous."
He stated: "Europeans have tried their best to find a sustainable solution for using these assets for the benefit of Ukrainians, and now Trump wants to profit from these assets. This proposal will probably be rejected by everyone."
A senior EU official also told Politico that whatever Trump desires, he does not have the power to unfreeze assets blocked in Europe. Meanwhile, a senior EU politician, severely reprimanding Witkoff for the idea, said: "He needs to see a psychiatrist."
The issue of how to use the frozen Russian assets has become one of the most difficult issues for Ukraine's allies, and they have not yet resolved it despite various layers of concerns about the potential legal, political, security, and economic consequences of such an action. The most worrying issue for them is that these assets are mainly held in facilities in Belgium called Euroclear, which exposes the Belgians disproportionately to the risks of Russian retaliation.
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