The EU is preparing a plan to generate more profit from frozen Russian assets in support of Ukraine.

The European Union is considering transferring frozen Russian state assets (almost €200B) from Euroclear in Belgium to a “specialized organization” under the auspices of the EU. The main advantage of quickly creating a new fund is that the assets can be directed to riskier investments that have the potential to generate much higher returns, ensuring Ukraine’s substantial long-term support. This would generate higher profits to help Ukraine amid threats to end support for Kyiv from US President Trump. The move would not constitute the outright confiscation of Russian assets, which several EU states, including Germany and Italy, oppose for financial and legal reasons. Brussels hopes that by spending only the interest and not touching the underlying capital, it can avoid accusations of violating international law. Another potential advantage of the new fund is that it could provide protection against Hungary’s veto on extending sanctions and potentially returning the money to Russia.