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Germany open to ideas on frozen Russian assets, finance minister says
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on September 19, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on September 19, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Germany's finance minister is open to using frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, amid EU legal discussions.
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany wants to work productively on ideas regarding the use of Russian assets frozen in the European Union, Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said in Copenhagen on Friday, indicating an openness in Berlin towards the legally fraught issue.
"Everything must be carefully examined," Klingbeil said ahead of talks with his EU counterparts.
"Germany will take on a role in which we want to make things possible and not one in which we block things," he added.
Wary of seizing the assets, a red line for some in the EU, the bloc is discussing ways to use them more intensively to fund support for Ukraine amid uncertainty over the United States' commitment to Kyiv under President Donald Trump.
So far, the EU has only taken interest generated from the assets, which were frozen after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Germany has in the past repeatedly expressed legal concerns over any proposals to seize them completely.
Klingbeil said his coalition government was committed to pursuing more intensive use of the frozen assets, despite the legal difficulties.
"There is a financial need there. We want to fulfill our responsibility for Ukraine," he told reporters.
(Reporting by Christian Kraemer, Writing by Friederike Heine, Editing by Miranda Murray)
Germany is open to discussing the use of frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, according to Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil.
Germany has expressed legal concerns over proposals to completely seize the frozen Russian assets, which some in the EU view as a red line.
Germany aims to explore more intensive use of the frozen assets to fulfill its financial responsibility towards Ukraine amid ongoing discussions in the EU.
So far, the EU has only utilized the interest generated from the frozen assets, which were put in place after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Germany wants to take on a proactive role in EU discussions regarding frozen assets, aiming to facilitate solutions rather than block them.
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