The EU will use €1.4bn generated by the interest on the cash balances originating from immobilised assets of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) to provide financial support for Ukraine.
In a statement on Wednesday (5 August), the European Commission said that the interest had been accrued in the first six months of 2026 from some €210bn in Russian central bank reserves that were frozen by the EU after Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022 and are currently held by Central Securities Depositories (CSDs).
“Russia must pay for the destruction it has caused. And we are using the proceeds from the immobilised Russian assets to make sure it does,” said European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
“This will support Ukraine’s continued resistance against Russia’s illegal war,” she added.
The broader question of what to do with the billions of euros in Russian assets that were frozen as part of the EU’s sanctions regime against president Putin’s regime remains unresolved.
