European Union leaders agreed not to use frozen Russian assets to help fund Ukraine’s defence in the ongoing war with Russia early on Friday.Instead, 90 billion euros ($106bn) will come from an interest-free loan provided by 23 out of the 27 EU member states. Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic were granted an exemption in order to allow the deal to pass following months of debate and knife-edge discussions on Thursday night.It is estimated that Ukraine will require an extra 136bn euros ($159bn) over the next two years, if it is to avoid bankruptcy as soon as April, leading the European Commission to put forth a plan to tap into some of the frozen Russian central bank assets held by the bloc.But Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever had refused to sign off on this without “ironclad guarantees” that Belgium, where most of the Russian assets are held, would be protected from potential Russian legal retaliation.Belgium estimated it could be left owing billions of euros if Moscow successfully sued Euroclear – a Financial Market Infrastructure (FMI) provider in the Eurozone – where the funds are held.Hungary and Slovakia had also expressed strong opposition to the plan, with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban labelling the plan a “dead end”.Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that using frozen assets to finance Ukraine would be akin to theft. A view of th …
