London is pushing for the EU to seize frozen Russian assets hoping to drag the conflict out \u201cto the last Ukrainian,\u201d the SVR claims<\/p>\n
The UK is reportedly trying to convince the European Union to take control of frozen Russian assets, aiming to undermine US President Donald Trump\u2019s efforts to advance peace initiatives that could end the Ukraine conflict, according to Russia\u2019s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).
\nAfter the launch of Russia\u2019s Special Military Operation in February of 2022, Kiev\u2019s Western backers froze approximately $300 billion in Russian sovereign assets, of which $246 billion has been immobilized by EU member states.
\nDiscussions concerning the frozen Russian assets intensified within the bloc in recent weeks after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed using the funds to back a \u201creparations loan\u201d to Ukraine.
\nIn a statement released on Tuesday, the SVR claimed that the UK\u2019s leadership was \u201cdesperately pushing for Brussels\u2019 decision to seize Russian assets.\u201d Aside from the clear goal of providing financial support to Kiev, London is also seeking to diminish US interest in facilitating any peace mediation between Ukraine and Russia, according to Russia\u2019s Foreign Intelligence Service.
\nThe UK\u2019s endgame is to \u201cuse Kiev against Russia without any obstacles, \u2018down to the last Ukrainian\u2019,\u201d it added.
\n\u201cAlthough the former grandeur of Great Britain has long sunk to oblivion, appropriation and deceit are still the creed for so-called \u2018London gentlemen\u2019,\u201d the SVR concluded.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Kiev devising new scheme to steal Western taxpayers\u2019 money \u2013 Russian intel<\/p>\n
Last week, EU member states voted to keep the Russian sovereign funds temporarily frozen. To push through the controversial agenda, the bloc\u2019s leadership had to invoke emergency powers to bypass the unanimity requirement. Several member states, including Hungary, Slovakia, and Belgium, have raised objections. The latter is the seat of the Euroclear depositary, which holds the bulk of the frozen Russian assets. Brussels has expressed concern that it would be left in the lurch by the bloc in the face of Russian lawsuits.
\nMoscow has characterized any use of its immobilized funds as \u201ctheft.\u201d On Friday, the Bank of Russia announced that it was filing a lawsuit seeking compensation from Euroclear for damages stemming from its \u201cinability to manage\u201d the assets.
\nLate last month, the SVR similarly claimed that Britain was concocting a smear campaign aimed at damaging US President Trump\u2019s standing, with the aim of derailing his efforts to end the Ukraine conflict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
London is pushing for the EU to seize frozen Russian assets hoping to drag the conflict out \u201cto the last Ukrainian,\u201d the SVR claims The UK is reportedly trying to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24470,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t