BRUSSELS, Oct 22 (Reuters) - European Union lawmakers on Tuesday approved the bloc’s plan to use frozen Russian central bank assets to loan up to 35 billion euros ($38 billion) to its ally Ukraine.
The European Parliament voted by 518 in favour to 56 against, with 61 abstentions, for the planned loan to Kyiv in the last legislative step after EU governments agreed the plan earlier in October.
The G7 plans to provide an overall loan of $50 billion to help Ukraine, serviced by profits generated by Russian assets immobilised in the West. These assets were frozen shortly after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
More than two-thirds of the assets, some 210 billion euros, are stuck in the 27-nation European Union, mostly with Belgium’s asset safekeeping and servicing company Euroclear.
The loan is cash they’re giving to Ukraine. The loan is then paid off with profits from the frozen assets. Ukraine does not need to pay for the loan.
Making it a loan serviced by the assets makes it a large upfront sum that can be paid off without diminishing the original sum, and also makes it all come in the form of easily-used cash