‘It will be key issue this year.’ Kuleba on transfer of frozen Russian assets

Kuleba said this during a telethon.

According to him, the massive Russian attack on January 2 was a kind of "wake-up call" not only for Ukrainians but also for the whole world. In addition, it was a reminder that "we need to work on five very specific things today," including the transfer of frozen Russian assets to Ukraine. 

"There are already concrete initiatives in the US and the EU. There is a decision like Belgium's, which transferred income taxes on Russian assets to the needs of Ukraine. There are legislative acts adopted in some countries that create these mechanisms for transferring money. So now we are in the second phase, when all these efforts should be brought together in a single legal framework, i.e., unified rules should be created for the EU and the Group of Seven countries," he said.

According to Kuleba, since last year, Ukraine has been encouraging partners to speed up work on this issue, and it will be one of the key issues this year. He emphasized that funds will start flowing to Ukraine when the regulatory framework is adopted. This should happen in 2024. “When the decisions are made, then everything will work. Last fall, we were still very far from even adopting this framework, and now we are already discussing the approval of specific legal norms at the G7 level and the European Union. Therefore, we have come very close to creating a legal framework for the transfer of Russian assets," the minister concluded.

• On December 21, 2032, the United States began negotiations with its allies to use $300 billion in frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine in the war.