O The request comes at a time when Kyiv, which has faced Russian invasion for two years, is concerned about the erosion of Western military and financial assistance caused by internal dissension in the United States and the European Union (EU).
“The help from our partners is an extremely important instrument”, declared Shmygal at a press conference in Kyiv, quoted by the French agency AFP.
“But we need predictability and stability, regardless of weather conditions, political fluctuations and electoral cycles that unfold around the world,” he said.
Shmygal said dozens of elections expected this year in countries allied with Ukraine, including the United States, Kyiv’s main backer, create uncertainty about continued aid.
This situation “represents great stress for our partners and for us”, he admitted.
Shmygal said that “the confiscation of Russian assets should become a reliable source of support” for the Ukrainian state and financing for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
The EU managed to unlock aid worth 50 billion euros at the beginning of February, after Hungary created obstacles.
An aid package from the United States has been blocked in Congress for months by supporters of Donald Trump (Republican), named as the favorite for November’s presidential elections.
The North American package amounts to 60 billion dollars (55.5 billion euros, at current exchange rates).
Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago, the European Union and G7 countries have frozen around 300 billion euros in assets from Russia’s Central Bank, according to the EU.
The transfer of these assets to Ukraine is far from complete due, according to the West, to legal and geopolitical obstacles.
The Europeans are preparing to transfer the interest and profits generated by Russian assets to Kyiv. Belgium plans to pay 1.7 billion euros to Ukraine this year.
“Compared to the 200 billion euros [de ativos russos] which are frozen in accounts in Belgium, this is an insignificant amount”, said the Ukrainian Prime Minister.
The confiscation of all frozen Russian assets “interests us for two reasons: one, because we need them and another, because it is punishment for the Russian aggressor”, who “has to pay” for having invaded Ukraine, Shmygal added.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv’s allies imposed sanctions on Moscow to reduce its war financing capacity and froze Russian state assets abroad.
In addition to sanctions, Western allies have also supplied arms to Ukraine, which launched a counteroffensive in June with little success and is currently facing a new Russian offensive in the east.
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Source: https://www.noticiasaominuto.com/mundo/2514210/ucrania-pede-transferencia-de-ativos-russos-congelados-pelo-ocidente
