Zelensky says Kremlin envoy’s trip to Washington this week is part of Moscow’s push to unfreeze Russian assets
In a press briefing on Friday, Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian intelligence believes that Kremlin investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev’s main reason for traveling to Washington this week was to lobby the Trump administration to assist with unfreezing Russian assets. Zelensky said that Dmitriev has visited other countries, as well, and allegedly offered Russian purchases of “various goods, including high-tech products,” in exchange for releasing the assets.
“Thank God, the money is frozen in Europe [….] and Europe has no intention of giving it back to the Russians,” added Ukraine’s president. Zelensky told reporters that continued European sanctions are vital for keeping pressure on the Russian economy. He expressed confidence that the U.S. “won’t lift sanctions — on the contrary, they’ll take steps to tighten them.”
In February 2022, Western officials froze more than €260 billion in assets tied to sanctioned Russian state entities, namely Russia’s Central Bank. Most of the accounts — worth about €190 billion — are held at the Belgian depository Euroclear. Only a small portion, around €5 billion, is held in the United States. Western countries have repeatedly discussed the possibility of confiscating these assets but have been wary of setting a precedent that could affect the euro’s stability. So far, officials have merely confiscated the profits from the frozen assets and used them to support Ukraine. Part of this money has already been transferred to the government in Kyiv.
