The EU has frozen €210bn (£184bn, $247bn) of Russian central bank assets which are mostly held at Euroclear in Brussels. EU leaders agreed in 2024 to take the interest on Russia’s frozen sovereign wealth for Ukraine. Vladimir Putin has said using the frozen assets to finance a loan would be akin to “theft of someone else’s property”. Belgium, the host of the lion’s share of the assets, has described the EU plan as “fundamentally wrong”. The Belgian government also wants other countries with Russian frozen assets to use them for Ukraine, including the UK, Japan, Canada, the US, Switzerland and Norway.

The EU has frozen €210bn (£184bn, $247bn) of Russian central bank assets which are mostly held at Euroclear in Brussels. EU leaders agreed in 2024 to take the interest on Russia’s frozen sovereign wealth for Ukraine. Vladimir Putin has said using the frozen assets to finance a loan would be akin to “theft of someone else’s property”. Belgium, the host of the lion’s share of the assets, has described the EU plan as “fundamentally wrong”. The Belgian government also wants other countries with Russian frozen assets to use them for Ukraine, including the UK, Japan, Canada, the US, Switzerland and Norway.

The EU has frozen €210bn (£184bn, $247bn) of Russian central bank assets which are mostly held at Euroclear in Brussels. EU leaders agreed in 2024 to take the interest on Russia’s frozen sovereign wealth for Ukraine. Vladimir Putin has said using the frozen assets to finance a loan would be akin to “theft of someone else’s property”. Belgium, the host of the lion’s share of the assets, has described the EU plan as “fundamentally wrong”. The Belgian government also wants other countries with Russian frozen assets to use them for Ukraine, including the UK, Japan, Canada, the US, Switzerland and Norway.

The EU has frozen €210bn (£184bn, $247bn) of Russian central bank assets which are mostly held at Euroclear in Brussels. EU leaders agreed in 2024 to take the interest on Russia’s frozen sovereign wealth for Ukraine. Vladimir Putin has said using the frozen assets to finance a loan would be akin to “theft of someone else’s property”. Belgium, the host of the lion’s share of the assets, has described the EU plan as “fundamentally wrong”. The Belgian government also wants other countries with Russian frozen assets to use them for Ukraine, including the UK, Japan, Canada, the US, Switzerland and Norway.

The EU has frozen €210bn (£184bn, $247bn) of Russian central bank assets which are mostly held at Euroclear in Brussels. EU leaders agreed in 2024 to take the interest on Russia’s frozen sovereign wealth for Ukraine. Vladimir Putin has said using the frozen assets to finance a loan would be akin to “theft of someone else’s property”. Belgium, the host of the lion’s share of the assets, has described the EU plan as “fundamentally wrong”. The Belgian government also wants other countries with Russian frozen assets to use them for Ukraine, including the UK, Japan, Canada, the US, Switzerland and Norway.

The EU has frozen €210bn (£184bn, $247bn) of Russian central bank assets which are mostly held at Euroclear in Brussels. EU leaders agreed in 2024 to take the interest on Russia’s frozen sovereign wealth for Ukraine. Vladimir Putin has said using the frozen assets to finance a loan would be akin to “theft of someone else’s property”. Belgium, the host of the lion’s share of the assets, has described the EU plan as “fundamentally wrong”. The Belgian government also wants other countries with Russian frozen assets to use them for Ukraine, including the UK, Japan, Canada, the US, Switzerland and Norway.

The EU has frozen €210bn (£184bn, $247bn) of Russian central bank assets which are mostly held at Euroclear in Brussels. EU leaders agreed in 2024 to take the interest on Russia’s frozen sovereign wealth for Ukraine. Vladimir Putin has said using the frozen assets to finance a loan would be akin to “theft of someone else’s property”. Belgium, the host of the lion’s share of the assets, has described the EU plan as “fundamentally wrong”. The Belgian government also wants other countries with Russian frozen assets to use them for Ukraine, including the UK, Japan, Canada, the US, Switzerland and Norway.

The EU has frozen €210bn (£184bn, $247bn) of Russian central bank assets which are mostly held at Euroclear in Brussels. EU leaders agreed in 2024 to take the interest on Russia’s frozen sovereign wealth for Ukraine. Vladimir Putin has said using the frozen assets to finance a loan would be akin to “theft of someone else’s property”. Belgium, the host of the lion’s share of the assets, has described the EU plan as “fundamentally wrong”. The Belgian government also wants other countries with Russian frozen assets to use them for Ukraine, including the UK, Japan, Canada, the US, Switzerland and Norway.

The EU has frozen €210bn (£184bn, $247bn) of Russian central bank assets which are mostly held at Euroclear in Brussels. EU leaders agreed in 2024 to take the interest on Russia’s frozen sovereign wealth for Ukraine. Vladimir Putin has said using the frozen assets to finance a loan would be akin to “theft of someone else’s property”. Belgium, the host of the lion’s share of the assets, has described the EU plan as “fundamentally wrong”. The Belgian government also wants other countries with Russian frozen assets to use them for Ukraine, including the UK, Japan, Canada, the US, Switzerland and Norway.

The EU has frozen €210bn (£184bn, $247bn) of Russian central bank assets which are mostly held at Euroclear in Brussels. EU leaders agreed in 2024 to take the interest on Russia’s frozen sovereign wealth for Ukraine. Vladimir Putin has said using the frozen assets to finance a loan would be akin to “theft of someone else’s property”. Belgium, the host of the lion’s share of the assets, has described the EU plan as “fundamentally wrong”. The Belgian government also wants other countries with Russian frozen assets to use them for Ukraine, including the UK, Japan, Canada, the US, Switzerland and Norway.

The EU has frozen €210bn (£184bn, $247bn) of Russian central bank assets which are mostly held at Euroclear in Brussels. EU leaders agreed in 2024 to take the interest on Russia’s frozen sovereign wealth for Ukraine. Vladimir Putin has said using the frozen assets to finance a loan would be akin to “theft of someone else’s property”. Belgium, the host of the lion’s share of the assets, has described the EU plan as “fundamentally wrong”. The Belgian government also wants other countries with Russian frozen assets to use them for Ukraine, including the UK, Japan, Canada, the US, Switzerland and Norway.

The EU has frozen €210bn (£184bn, $247bn) of Russian central bank assets which are mostly held at Euroclear in Brussels. EU leaders agreed in 2024 to take the interest on Russia’s frozen sovereign wealth for Ukraine. Vladimir Putin has said using the frozen assets to finance a loan would be akin to “theft of someone else’s property”. Belgium, the host of the lion’s share of the assets, has described the EU plan as “fundamentally wrong”. The Belgian government also wants other countries with Russian frozen assets to use them for Ukraine, including the UK, Japan, Canada, the US, Switzerland and Norway.

The EU has frozen €210bn (£184bn, $247bn) of Russian central bank assets which are mostly held at Euroclear in Brussels. EU leaders agreed in 2024 to take the interest on Russia’s frozen sovereign wealth for Ukraine. Vladimir Putin has said using the frozen assets to finance a loan would be akin to “theft of someone else’s property”. Belgium, the host of the lion’s share of the assets, has described the EU plan as “fundamentally wrong”. The Belgian government also wants other countries with Russian frozen assets to use them for Ukraine, including the UK, Japan, Canada, the US, Switzerland and Norway.

Our host, Rees-Mogg, was in jubilant form, celebrating Keir Starmer’s recent speeches that named the economic damage done by Brexit. Are they right that Labour reopening the Brexit wound will reignite toxic old referendum passions? Its leaders were in it for fun and personal advancement: the Tory party was destroyed by it, only Nigel Farage has benefited. But the dam has broken because there is no disguising the truth about what Brexit does to UK growth. That’s a good reminder of how they won the referendum: these cavalier romancers trounced the roundhead number-cruncher remainers.

But Downing Street said “positive progress” was made on the issue during crisis talks hosted in Downing Street with Zelenskyy, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Friedrich Merz. View image in fullscreen Friedrich Merz, Keir Starmer, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Emmanuel Macron in 10 Downing Street on Monday. During the meeting, leaders “underscored the need for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine” including “robust security guarantees” against further Russian aggression, Downing Street said. A spokesperson for the Belgian prime minister said he would be meeting Starmer in Downing Street to discuss “priorities like migration, supporting Ukraine, European security and mutual economic growth”. View image in fullscreen Keir Starmer welcomes Emmanuel Macron outside 10 Downing Street.