Germany Believes There Is A Solution To Use Frozen Russian Assets To Help Ukraine

German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil/PHOTO via Instagram @larsklingbeil

JAKARTA - German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said it believed EU countries would find a solution to use Russia's central bank assets to help Ukraine.

The European Union is looking for ways to finance Ukraine's defense and reconstruction with Russia's central bank assets held back in the West following the Moscow invasion.

Under international law, sovereign assets cannot be confiscated.

"The political goal is clear, We want to use frozen Russian assets, but there are still many questions that need to be clarified internally," Klingbeil said in Luxembourg ahead of a meeting of European finance ministers.

Klingbeil said "a legally safe way" needs to be found, but insists his belief this goal will be achieved.

Earlier, German Knselir Friedrich Merz called United States President Donald Trump to discuss plans to use frozen Russian assets to help Kyiv, Ukraine.

In a celebration in the Financial Times, Merz proposed providing interest-free loans to Ukraine worth around 140 billion euros (Rp2.81 quadrillion) using frozen Russian assets in Western countries.

"The Federal chancellor announced the initiative to utilize frozen Russian assets to support the Ukrainian armed forces," said German government spokesman Stefan Badminton, quoted from RIA Novosti, Monday, October 6.

Trump and Merz also discussed the development of the situation in Ukraine and agreed to continue joint efforts to end the conflict, he said.

The two leaders also discussed conditions in the Gaza Strip and agreed that negotiations in Egypt should produce a quick agreement regarding the release of hostages, cessation of hostilities, and the deployment of Hamas weapons.

Since the start of Russia's military operations in Ukraine, the European Union and G7 countries have frozen nearly half of Russia's foreign exchange reserves worth around 300 billion euros. More than 200 billion of them are kept in the European Union, especially in Belgium's Euroclear clearing agency.

In early October, the European Commission reported that it had distributed 14 billion euros to Ukraine from January to September 2025 using profits from frozen funds from Russia's central bank.