FT: U.S. proposed unfreezing some Russian assets and placing them under Washington’s control; Europe rejected the plan
The United States has proposed that European countries unfreeze part of the Russian assets frozen since the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine and hand them over to a structure controlled by Washington, four sources told the Financial Times.
American negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner put forward the proposal during talks in Miami on October 9 with representatives of Ukraine, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and NATO.
The outlet’s sources said the fate of the frozen Russian assets was discussed as part of a comprehensive peace agreement. American negotiators proposed several options for unfreezing the funds, including placing them under the control of a U.S.-controlled structure.
Europeans rejected the plan, the Financial Times’ sources said. European officials present at the meeting said they opposed handing control of the assets to anyone and ruled out returning any portion of them to Moscow.
Washington’s plan raised concerns among Europeans and Kyiv, who questioned the United States’ intentions and its fundamentally different approach to pressuring Moscow, the Financial Times reported.
According to reporting by reporting by The New York Times, the United States offered Russia three economic incentives to persuade it to accept a partial ceasefire in the war with Ukraine, including unfreezing billions of dollars in Russian assets held in the West. Washington viewed the money as an advance incentive for a partial truce, not a reward for its taking effect.
The Russian Central Bank’s assets, worth 260 billion euros, were frozen in Western countries after Russia launched its war in 2022. About 193 billion euros of that total is held at the Belgian depositary Euroclear, whose income from the frozen funds finances a loan of up to 50 billion euros to Ukraine.
In December 2025, the European Union used a special procedure that does not require support from all member states to approve an indefinite freeze on Russian assets, which will remain in place until Russia ends the war and compensates Ukraine for the damage.
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