Spain urges use of frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine's defense
MADRID — Spain will push for the use of frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine's defense during the G5+ (Weimar+) summit held Monday in Madrid, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares announced.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Albares said Russia must eventually pay war reparations to Ukraine, and that using its frozen assets would be 'an advance on those reparations.'
'There are many of us who believe we need to have this debate,' Albares told reporters. 'It is more than legitimate to use this as financing, and that's the position of Spain.'
European authorities have frozen nearly €200 billion ($216 billion) in Russian assets since the invasion of Ukraine. While the EU has so far avoided tapping the principal, it allocated €1.5 billion in interest proceeds to Kyiv last year.
Albares said the funds could provide a stable financial foundation for continued EU support for Ukraine's military and security needs.
Foreign ministers from France, Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain, the UK, and Ukraine, along with the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, gathered in Madrid for the G5+ summit — an expanded version of the Weimar Triangle — aimed at shaping a unified European defense and diplomacy strategy.
The Spanish foreign minister also accused Russia of deliberately stalling ceasefire negotiations and condemned recent attacks on Ukrainian civilians as 'absolutely unacceptable.'
The summit is expected to address Europe's broader security architecture, including southern border concerns, while also discussing long-term peace strategies for Ukraine. — Agencies
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