EU Should Expand Use Of Immobilized Russian Assets In Ukraine's Interest - Estonian Foreign Minister

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) EU countries should take on greater responsibility in supporting Ukraine and provide it with more military and economic assistance, strengthen its position in the process of finding ways to achieve peace and at the same time weaken the Kremlin's posture.

This was stated by the head of the Estonian Foreign Ministry, Margus Tsahkna, on the doorstep of the foreign affairs ministerial in Brussels on Monday, Ukrinform reports.

"We also intend to discuss what more we can do for Ukraine. It is obvious that Europe must do more, and Estonia proposed at least that all allies support Ukraine more military-wise this year and take more responsibility. We need to push Ukraine to gain a strong position and we need to weaken Putin's position. I was in Ukraine just two weeks ago and I can assure you that the Ukrainians are ready to fight, and they are just expecting us to support them at the military level, but also economically, and to invest in the Ukrainian defense industry because they are increasing their own capabilities,” the chief Estonian diplomat emphasized.

Tsahkna noted that he hopes, like all Ukrainians, that peace will soon return to Ukraine. However, according to the minister, this peace must be just and long-lasting.

“Europe must take more responsibility. Because we are not talking only about peace in Ukraine, we are talking about peace in Europe and about the defense architecture for Europe,” the Estonian politician emphasized.

He expressed hope that today the European ministers will decide to extend the sanctions regime against Russia and will soon be able to consider the 16th package of such restrictive measures against the aggressor state.

Tsakhkna noted that the EU should move forward on the issues of utilizing Russia's immobilized financial assets in the interest of Ukraine, including their main part, not only extraordinary profits from frozen funds.

“We need to take and use the main part of frozen Russian assets. Estonia adopted a law last year, and we can do it. So I do not believe in this kind of excuses that 'we do not have a legal framework for that'. No, we do. We have European legal framework if there is political will, and Russia must pay,” the Estonian government official said.

He noted that forwarding profits from these frozen Russian assets to Ukraine is a good thing, but the total amount of blocked assets exceeds EUR 300 billion, which should be utilized.

“I understand as well some countries' concerns about what will happen with them if things do not go well. We need to discuss how the European Union can guarantee our backing for these countries where frozen Russian assets are located,” the minister noted.

As reported, a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council is being held in Brussels on January 27, where the key issues on the agenda include the developments in Ukraine, EU relations with the new administration in the U.S., as well as the situation of the Middle East.

During the discussion of Russian aggression against Ukraine, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha will join the European ministers in a video conference mode.

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