Orban wrote a letter to Putin on the issue of Russia's frozen assets

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has written a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding Russia's frozen assets in the European Union. This was announced on December 16 by the Hungarian portal Mandiner.

According to the newspaper, Orban, while on board the plane to Brussels, said that in a letter he asked Putin for information about what retaliatory steps Russia was planning if the EU decided to confiscate the frozen funds, and whether the positions of individual member states of the union would be taken into account.

As follows from the message of publicist Daniel Deak, the Kremlin gave a clear answer: Moscow will take "vigorous retaliatory measures", but at the same time it will take into account how each country will vote at the upcoming EU summit.

Orban also stressed that Hungary does not support the confiscation of Russian assets, as, in his opinion, it will become a new level of escalation. At the same time, the Prime Minister added that if the majority of EU countries still vote for the withdrawal of funds, Hungary will not be negatively affected.

The portal also cites Orban's ironic remark that what he loves most in Brussels is chocolate, the main square and the opportunity to leave there.

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On the same day, Politico reported that the United States was putting pressure on Europe to abandon its plan to use frozen Russian assets for Ukraine. The article noted that Belgium, where the blocked assets are located, as well as Italy, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, and Malta are opposed to the plan, fearing risks to their economies.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on December 16 that the chances of the EU making a decision on using frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine are 50%. According to him, concerns about the decision to use Russian assets exist throughout Europe.

On December 3, the European Commission approved a potential "reparation loan" for Ukraine, which implies the expropriation of sovereign Russian assets in Europe. Later, on December 12, the newspaper Politico reported that Italy, Belgium, Bulgaria, Malta opposed the EU proposal to transfer frozen assets of the Russian Federation to Ukraine, which amount to about €210 billion.

Vladimir Putin said on November 27 that the confiscation of Russian assets located in the European Union would have negative consequences. In turn, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov added on December 15 that the situation with frozen Russian assets shows that "theft is in the blood of Europeans."

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