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EU open to accommodate Belgian concerns on guarantees in Russian asset plan
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on December 12, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on December 12, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
The EU is open to addressing Belgian concerns about guarantees in the plan to use Russian assets for a Ukraine loan, ensuring shared financial responsibility.
BRUSSELS, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The European Commission is open to include guarantees that Belgium wants in the plan to use immobilised Russian central bank assets for a loan to Ukraine, European Economic Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said on Friday.
European Union countries want to use Russian sovereign assets held in the Belgian central securities depository Euroclear to provide a loan to Ukraine that would only be repaid once Russia pays war damages to Kyiv.
Before it agrees to the scheme, Belgium wants other EU countries to guarantee that they would share the potential financial burden that might arise from any legal action that Russia might take against Euroclear over the plan.
"We are putting forward solid guarantees for Belgium and also financial institutions in our proposal," Dombrovskis told a news conference after a meeting of EU finance ministers.
"But from the Commission side, we are open to work further and see how to further accommodate Belgium's concerns, and this work is ongoing as we speak," he said.
He said Ukraine would need money from the EU from the second quarter of 2026 and that the EU was already talking to other G7 countries -- the United States, Canada, Japan and Britain -- to front-load their financial help to Ukraine in the first quarter.
"We are making progress on this, and it looks like we'll be able to cover the financing need for Ukraine for the first quarter," he said.
(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski)
The European Commission is the executive branch of the European Union responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, and managing the EU's day-to-day operations.
Russian central bank assets refer to the financial resources held by the Central Bank of Russia, including foreign currency reserves and other financial instruments.
A loan is a sum of money borrowed from a lender that must be repaid with interest over a specified period.
War damages refer to the financial compensation that a country may be required to pay for destruction or loss caused during a conflict.
Euroclear is a financial services company that specializes in the settlement of securities transactions and the safekeeping of financial assets.
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