Czech Republic freezes Russian assets: EU measures to support Ukraine

The Czech government has made a historic decision to freeze all Russian state assets on its territory. According to the Czech Foreign Minister, Jan Lipavsky, this step will stop the commercial activities that Russia uses to finance its aggressive actions and killings of Ukrainians.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, expressed gratitude to the Czech Republic for this principled step. The Czech Republic joined Belgium, which was the first EU country to use frozen Russian assets to create a €1.7 billion fund to support Ukraine.

Estonia also joined the initiative by approving an amendment to the law that allows the use of frozen Russian assets to compensate for the damage caused by the war in Ukraine. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that the Commission is working on a proposal to pool some of the proceeds to help Ukraine in its post-war reconstruction.

It is estimated that frozen Russian sovereign assets in the EU amount to about 211 billion euros. EU leaders have supported the idea of using these funds to help Ukraine, and proposals to this effect may be put forward in December.

Ukraine emphasizes that receiving interest on frozen assets will not be enough and hopes to receive the assets in full as compensation for the war damage to its territory. The EU's measures reflect a commonly recognized need to support Ukraine in its recovery from the conflict.