WP says Kiev attempts to access Russian assets after Trump's return

Ukraine is trying to gain access to frozen Russian assets, hoping to persuade US President Donald Trump to overcome Europe's resistance to this issue. The Washington Post (WP) reported on February 1.

"Kiev expects an alternative source of funding for arms and reconstruction to be attractive to Trump as he seeks to cut foreign aid," the piece said.

Ukraine for a long time has been trying to achieve the confiscation of about $300 billion of assets of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. It is noted that the topic has become relevant against the background of uncertainty about military support for Kiev from Washington, as well as because of Trump's focus on conflict resolution.

It is specified that the confiscation proposal has little chance without broad support from Europe. According to officials, some countries are categorically opposed to this step. Among such states stand out France and Germany.

"The amount of EU losses from the sanctions standoff with Russia is already huge"

Vladislav Maslennikov, Director of the Department of European Affairs of the Russian Foreign Ministry, on the EU's 16th package, the prospects of withdrawal from the OSCE and the format of Moscow's relations with NATO

Earlier, on January 25, the portal UnHerd reported that Western countries need to unfreeze Russian assets to start negotiations on the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict.

Before that, on January 17, it became known that Russia could receive frozen assets "the next day" as a result of the lifting of sanctions. Senior officials of the European Union (EU) specified that their main goal was to convince Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to keep the anti-Russian restrictions in place. At the same time, "measures are being developed that could protect at least some of them."

CNN quoted sources as saying on January 14 that the former administration of then-U.S. President Joe Biden had proposed to European counterparts that Russia's frozen assets be transferred to a special account. According to the sources, Trump's supporters are not against the initiative.

On December 24, 2024, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal wrote in his Telegram channel that the country received $1 billion from frozen Russian assets, adding that this was the first tranche of the planned $20 billion that the United States is ready to allocate through the use of immobilized Russian assets within the framework of the G7 initiative.

Western countries have stepped up military and financial support for Kiev amid Russia's special operation to defend Donbass, which was announced by the Russian president on February 24, 2022, after the situation in the region worsened due to shelling by the Ukrainian military. Soon the EU approved the freezing of assets of the Russian Central Bank. A total of about $335bn was frozen.