EU discussing possible use of frozen Russian assets for Ukraine - European Commission rep

BRUSSELS. May 11 (Interfax) - The European Commission is exploring the possibility of using frozen Russian assets for the benefit of Ukraine, but the European Union needs to keep within its legal framework to prevent unjustified confiscation, European Commission spokesman Christian Wigand said.

"We have at this stage assets frozen in the EU worth around 24.1 billion [euros] from either private persons or entities that are listed under the EU sanctions. Under the restrictive measures, such assets must be frozen, but they cannot be directly confiscated. There is not a legal basis for this," Wigand said at a press briefing in Brussels on Thursday.

He added that the European Union had agreed "to criminalize the evasion of the EU restrictive measures, which is well advanced in discussions with legislators."

"This would make it possible in the case of evasion of sanctions to also confiscate such assets, because we basically needs to do this in a way that is compatible with the rule of law and criminal law in that context," Wigand said.

He said that EU members were discussing frozen Russian assets that belonged to the Central Bank.

The discussions are ongoing. [...] The idea is rather to basically work with this assets and use proceeds from it. Because again, we have to respect the rule of law, obviously, and cannot just confiscate such assets. But, according to our legal opinion, it is possible to work with these assets that are immobilized," Wigand said.

In his words, "the possible use of these assets for Ukraine" is high on the agenda of negotiations with the United States. This option is also being considered by certain EU members, he said.