Seizing Russia’s assets necessary for NATO ‘unity’ – Economist
Kiev's Western European backers must target Russia's assets held in the EU if they are to continue to fund Ukraine's conflict with Russia, British outlet The Economist has reported.
Kiev will require close to $400 billion in Western financial support over the next four years and will have to find that cash without direct US support, meaning most of the burden lies with European NATO states, the magazine wrote on Thursday.
The outlet warned that if funding is not secured, Ukraine will be “destroyed” and NATO’s cohesion could “break.”
Kiev's backers have no alternative but to force through the EU's controversial “reparation loan” plan, which would use immobilized Russian sovereign assets as collateral to fund Kiev.
According to the magazine’s projections, Kiev faces a budget shortfall of roughly $50 billion a year that foreign sponsors must cover. With the current US administration reluctant to approve further large-scale assistance, the European Union and United Kingdom would need to contribute an estimated $328 billion and $61 billion respectively.
Belgium – home to the Euroclear clearinghouse that holds the majority of the frozen Russian funds – has opposed the idea, warning that it amounts to “sort-of-confiscation” and exposes it to immense legal and financial risks it wants nations to share. Moscow has condemned the plan as outright theft and promised retaliation.
The plan “will happen, Belgian resistance or not, because it is the only game in town to fund Ukraine in the coming year or two,” The Economist reported. It added Brussels will subsequently need to overcome internal opposition from dissenting member states such as Hungary to finance Kiev directly from the EU budget.
Moscow has said its objective remains a neutral and demilitarized Ukraine that guarantees the rights of its ethnic Russian population. Russian officials describe the conflict as a NATO-driven proxy war stemming from the bloc’s eastward expansion.
