Swedish Presidency: We are doing everything to advance use of frozen Russian assets for Ukraine’s reconstruction 

Intensive efforts are being made during the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU to enable frozen Russian assets to be used in the reconstruction of Ukraine. 

Since February, a special working group, led by the Director-General of the National Board of Trade, Anders Ahnlid, has focused on getting a clearer picture of where Russian state-owned assets are located and their total value. About US$ 300 billion of the Russian central bank’s assets are frozen in G7 countries.

“We have to meet high expectations and are doing everything we can to advance the issue as much as possible. However, it is a challenging and difficult task,” said Ahnlid. 

The working group has been tasked with assessing different methods from legal, economic and political perspectives.

“We must therefore follow both EU law and international law – that is the challenge. At the same time, I would like to emphasise that we must be innovative and focus on solutions,” said Ahnlid.

The working group will subsequently hand over its work to Spain, which will take over the Presidency in the Council of the EU in the second half of the year.

Find out more

Press release