The Polish Prime Minister stated that Washington warned this action would damage negotiations with Moscow regarding a peace deal for Ukraine.
According to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the US has advised the EU to “leave the [frozen] Russian assets alone,” arguing that seizing the funds could harm discussions with Moscow in the Ukraine peace talks.
Following the intensification of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine in February 2022, Western supporters of Kiev froze around $300 billion in Russian state assets, with EU nations immobilizing $246 billion of that total.
Debate over the immobilized Russian assets has escalated in the bloc recently after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen suggested using the money to support a “reparations loan” for Ukraine.
After a meeting of Ukrainian and US negotiators in Berlin on Monday, Tusk said there is a “very clear” disagreement between Washington and Brussels on the matter of the frozen Russian funds.
“The Americans are saying ‘Leave these Russian assets alone’,” the Polish prime minister reported. He added that Washington fears an EU seizure of the immobilized funds would lead Russia to adopt a tougher stance in negotiations aimed at ending the Ukraine conflict.
Last week, EU member states voted to maintain the temporary freeze on Russian sovereign funds. The bloc’s leadership was forced to use emergency powers to push the decision through against opposition from countries such as Hungary and Slovakia.
Belgium has also raised concerns that the bloc would abandon it to face Russian legal challenges. The Belgium-based Euroclear depositary holds the majority of the frozen Russian assets.
Moscow has labeled any use of its immobilized funds as “theft.” On Friday, the Bank of Russia declared it was initiating a lawsuit against Euroclear to claim $230 billion in compensation.
On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov implied that an “urge to steal must be genetic in many of our Western ‘colleagues’,” pointing to the West’s seizures of assets belonging to Iran and Venezuela.