The EU agreed on the introduction of an additional tax on profits from frozen Russian assets

The foreign ministers of the European Union countries agreed on the introduction of an additional income tax (windfall tax) from the frozen funds of the Russian Federation, Bloomberg reports, citing sources familiar with the situation. Currently, about $300 billion of Russian money is frozen in the EU. Brussels plans to spend tax revenues from this amount on military-political and humanitarian support for Ukraine.

According to the agency, discussion of specific details on the new tax among European ministers will begin this week. The EU is convinced that Russia must “pay for the damage caused,” including from its assets in the EU. Moscow is harshly criticizing and condemning such an initiative.

Earlier, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that Brussels wants to quickly decide how exactly the proceeds from Russian assets should be used. Then Borrell spoke about the deadline of February 19, when a meeting of EU foreign ministers would take place. According to Borrell, the general provisions of the procedure are already ready, but discussions on some important aspects are ongoing at the ambassadorial level.

Western and Ukrainian officials have repeatedly proposed using frozen Russian assets to rebuild Ukraine. According to Kyiv and Brussels, such a procedure will allow funds to be allocated for humanitarian, military and other assistance.

Let us recall that after the start of the Ukrainian conflict, approximately $280 billion of Russian assets were frozen. The EU and G-7 countries announced the freezing of not only Russian funds, but also securities. At the same time, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation did not agree with this assessment of the amount. According to Russian officials, the frozen assets are valued at almost $300 billion.