Peace negotiations: EU considers the transfer to Ukraine "secret weapons" - € 200 billion, - Politico

To spread: according to journalists, European governments can go to a "nuclear version". Europe has significant levers of influence, although the EU has been excluded from key negotiations on termination of war in Ukraine in Riyadh. US President Donald Trump is acting as if he had all the cards in his hands for successful negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. But Brussels has a secret weapon for 200 billion euros. Politico writes about it.

After EU representatives were expelled from Russia on February 18, European governments can go to a "nuclear version," the newspaper. That is, to confiscate Russian sovereign assets that were frozen after Moscow began a full -scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago. But the EU is in a favorable position, since the lion's share of these funds - about 200 billion euros - is stored in the Brussels Financial Institution of EuroClear and brings interest.

In the US, there are only 5 billion frozen funds of the Russian Federation. The seizure of these assets is a radical option that almost certainly guarantees Europe at the negotiation table after the US and the Kremlin decided to negotiate in Riyadh without representatives of the European continent.

But as long as the finance ministers and central banks gather in South Africa at the G20 summit, EU governments are still in mind whether the defrosting of these Trump funds will prove that Brussels still has levers of influence, whether it will turn against it .

Against the background of the threat of assistance to Ukraine by the US, hawks in Russia claim that the defrosting of funds and transferring them to Kiev will allow the country covered by the country to take a mountain on the battlefield and withstand Trump's demands to end the war. "[With frozen Russian assets] we can replace the US support if the United States does not support Ukraine. We have frozen Russian assets in Europe for the amount Tsakhkna.