(MENAFN- UkrinForm) French Foreign Minister Stéphane Sejourne has confirmed France's intention to help channel the proceeds of Russian assets frozen in the EU to Ukraine's defence and reconstruction.
This was reported by Ukrinform with reference to Sejourne's interview with the "Novaya Gazeta. Europe ".
"We froze Russian assets in the EU to make it more difficult for Russia to finance its illegal war. France really wants to go even further: in the face of rising interest rates, these assets generated revenues of about EUR 4 billion in 2023. We propose to use them to finance Ukraine's defence and reconstruction efforts," Sejourne said.
However, he was silent on the size of the share of frozen Russian assets that are located in France.
The foreign minister also noted that the French authorities cannot directly influence French companies such as Auchan, Leroy Merlin, Decathlon and Total to leave the Russian market. At the same time, Sejourne stressed that a large number of French companies that had been operating in Russia had already left after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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"The Kremlin's growing aggressiveness towards France played an important role in this. In addition, it is increasingly difficult for businesses to be in a situation where they are associated with a regime that has become so marginalised internationally and is condemned by almost all countries in the world. In order to regain its place in the community of nations, Russia must make a different choice," Sejourne said.
As Ukrinform previously reported, in mid-April, G7 finance ministers reaffirmed their support for Ukraine and their intention to use frozen Russian assets for it.
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