On March 20 Josep Borrell, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policypresented a proposal for a Council decision to use the windfall revenues from Russian immobilisedassets to support Ukraine. He also hopes for a rapid adoption by the Council of this proposal. According to him 90% will be allocated via the European Peace Facility and 10% via the EU budget. According to estimates, it could be about €3 billion a year.
With US military aid remains blocked, this approach could be critical to ensuring that the needs of the Ukrainian military are met in a timely manner. Earlier, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski expressed a similar view. He also believes that Russian money should go to support Ukrainian defenders.
At the same time, it is not enough to allocate funds to the Ukrainian Armed Forces alone. Europe should not only strengthen the Ukrainian military, but also prevent Russian forces from developingit’s capabilities. This requires stricter control over the implementation of the sanctions policy by European law enforcement agencies, especially against Russian defense industry sector. This is the only possible way to stop Russian army from aggression against Europe. Sanctions expected to be discussed at the next EU leaders’ summit on 21-22 March. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy is also expected to join the summit and take part in the discussion via video conference.
