Ukraine Asks European Union To Isolate Moscow To Confiscate Russian Assets

JAKARTA - Ukraine will ask the European Union to consider major new measures to isolate Moscow, including confiscation of Russian assets and imposing sanctions on some Russian oil buyers.

The previously unreported Ukrainian white paper to be submitted to the European Union calls for the 27-member bloc to take a more aggressive and independent position on sanctions as uncertainty hangs on Washington's future role.

Among the 40 pages of the recommendation, Reuters reported on Wednesday, May 21, there are calls for adopting a law that will accelerate asset confiscation by the EU of sanctioned individuals, and send them to Ukraine.

Those who are sanctioned can then seek compensation from Russia.

The EU should consider various measures to make its sanctions more assertive outside its own territory, including targeting foreign companies that use its technology to assist Russia, and imposing secondary sanctions on Russian oil buyers.

Such secondary sanctions - which could hit large buyers such as India and China - will be a major step that so far Europe is reluctant to take.

US President Donald Trump has discussed this publicly before making the decision not to act for now.

The white paper also calls for the EU to consider using more decisions based on the majority rules on sanctions, to prevent individual member states from blocking actions that usually require unanimous votes.

After speaking with Putin on Monday, Trump chose not to impose new sanctions on Russia. This condition dashed the hopes of European and Kyiv leaders who had lobbied for weeks to increase pressure on Moscow.

Trump spoke with Ukrainian and European leaders after a phone call with Putin and said he did not want to impose sanctions now and gave talks time to take place, someone familiar with the conversation told Reuters.

The EU and Britain continued to impose additional sanctions on Russia on Tuesday, saying they still hope Washington will join.

However, Europeans are openly discussing ways to maintain pressure on Moscow if Washington is no longer ready to participate.