Frozen Russian Assets: Europe Rejects US Control Plan – FT

The US proposed that European countries unfreeze some Russian sovereign assets and place them under Washington’s oversight to help revive negotiations over Russia’s war against Ukraine, according to a report published on Thursday, Oct. 15.

The Financial Times reported, citing four people briefed on the discussions, that US envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner presented the idea during talks in Miami. European representatives rejected it.

“They were told that this was just simply not going to happen,” one person told the newspaper.

The proposal involved transferring some immobilized reserves into a new financial vehicle overseen by Washington. A US official told the FT that possible uses of the assets were being discussed as part of a comprehensive peace agreement, with the mechanisms for releasing and spending the money still under consideration.

The Miami talks brought together representatives of Ukraine, Britain, France, Germany, the European Commission, and NATO alongside American negotiators. The meeting ended without an announced breakthrough.

Europe opposes surrendering control

European officials at the meeting opposed both handing control of the assets to another party and returning any of the funds to Moscow, according to the report.

Western countries immobilized roughly €260 billion ($291 billion) in Russian sovereign assets after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Around €210 billion ($235 billion) remains blocked in the EU, with much of it held through the Brussels-based securities depository Euroclear.

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These are Russian central bank reserves, distinct from the private property of sanctioned businesspeople. EU restrictions prohibit transactions involving the management of those reserves, preventing Moscow from freely accessing them.

European leaders have repeatedly said the assets should remain immobilized until Russia ends its war and compensates Ukraine. In December 2025, the EU adopted additional emergency measures prohibiting transfers of the central bank’s assets or reserves back to Russia. Those measures strengthened the freeze without transferring ownership of the underlying reserves to Ukraine.

European governments nevertheless remain divided over how far they should go in using the funds. Belgium has raised legal and financial concerns about proposals to mobilize the principal, while Ukraine has pressed its partners to use Russian reserves more broadly to finance its needs.

The assets already help finance Ukraine

The EU currently channels extraordinary earnings generated by the immobilized reserves toward assistance for Ukraine, while keeping the underlying assets frozen.

According to the Council of the EU, the assets have generated €8 billion ($9 billion) in windfall profits. Of that amount, €3.8 billion ($4.2 billion) has reached Ukraine, while €4.2 billion ($4.7 billion) has contributed to repayment of EU-G7 loans or been set aside for that purpose.

Under the current distribution rules, 95 percent of those revenues goes through a mechanism helping Ukraine repay approximately €45 billion ($50 billion) in EU-G7 loans. The remaining five percent support the European Peace Facility, which finances military assistance.

A separate €90 billion ($101 billion) EU support loan for 2026-27 is financed through European borrowing backed by the EU budget. European leaders agreed that Ukraine would repay that loan once it receives Russian reparations, while reserving the EU’s right to use immobilized Russian assets for repayment in accordance with international and EU law.

The dispute therefore concerns more than the location of the reserves: European governments have already tied them to Ukraine’s financing and eventual compensation for war damage.

Washington has floated economic incentives before

The latest proposal follows earlier discussions about offering Moscow economic incentives for a limited ceasefire.

Those discussions included releasing some frozen Russian reserves, authorizing a transaction involving Lukoil’s foreign assets, and easing restrictions on Belarusian potash exports. The incentives were reportedly presented as measures that could encourage a partial halt to fighting, including attacks on energy infrastructure or maritime routes.

Ukrainian negotiators sought safeguards in those discussions, including matching financial releases for Ukraine and guarantees of faster military assistance if Russia violated a prospective truce.

Frozen reserves also featured in a 28-point US-backed draft peace plan published in 2025. That draft proposed investing $100 billion in Russian assets in US-led reconstruction efforts in Ukraine, with Washington receiving 50 percent of the profits. It also envisaged a separate US-Russian investment vehicle.

The new asset proposal comes amid a broader disagreement over sanctions relief. European governments have opposed following Trump’s Russian diesel agreement, arguing that pressure on Moscow should remain in place while Russian attacks continue.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said earlier this week that following Washington’s diesel decision was “out of the question” for Germany and Europe, while maintaining that European governments remained in contact with the US over a common approach to ending the war.