FT: U.S. proposed unfreezing some Russian assets and placing them under Washington’s control; Europe rejected the plan

Filed 1h ago · Via Meduza · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Tenebrous Brothers Carnival - Act Two

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Diplomatic Security Service from Washington, D.C., United St · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

The Financial Times reports that US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner proposed in Miami talks that European countries unfreeze part of the roughly 260 billion euros in Russian Central Bank assets and place them under a US-controlled structure, as part of a broader peace framework. European officials rejected the idea outright, opposing handing control to anyone and ruling out returning funds to Moscow.

The New York Times separately reported the US offered Russia economic incentives, including unfreezing some of the assets, to secure a partial ceasefire, treating it as an advance sweetener rather than a reward for compliance. About 193 billion euros of the frozen funds sit at Belgium's Euroclear, whose income currently helps finance a loan to Ukraine, and the EU voted in December to keep the freeze indefinite until Russia ends the war and pays for damages.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Washington wants to move money that belongs to Europe's financial system into a structure it runs itself, and call that diplomacy. Europe took one look and said it would rather keep the funds frozen than hand them to anyone, including its own ally. That's not generosity toward Kyiv, that's just Europe counting its own silverware before company leaves.

Source: Read the original at Meduza → Scored: Tenebrous Brothers Carnival - Act Two · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0