France to pay for Ukrainian weapons with Russian funds

Paris will use proceeds from the frozen assets to buy artillery shells and air defense equipment for Kiev

France has announced that it will use a share of the proceeds from frozen Russian assets for purchasing weapons for Ukraine. The move came after Kiev called on Paris to speed up arms deliveries.

Western countries have frozen $300 billion in Russian sovereign reserves in response to Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine. While Kiev and some of its supporters in Europe have repeatedly called for the funds to be confiscated altogether, the EU has so far failed to find a legal method to do so.

Nevertheless, the European Commission agreed in June to make €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) of the interest accumulated from the Russian assets available for aid to Ukraine.

“The European Commission has agreed with the French Directorate General of Armaments to use these funds to quickly procure priority munitions, artillery and air defense equipment for Ukraine from the French industry worth 300 million euros [$332 million] by 2024,” the French Defense Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

“This is an opportunity to continue ramping up the French industry in support of Ukraine,” the statement read.

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Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky urged France, Britain and the US this month to expedite the deliveries of weapons as Kiev’s forces have been unable to hold off the steady advance of the Russian army in Donbass. “Decisions are needed, as are timely logistics for the announced aid packages,” he said.

Moscow has insisted that the freezing of its assets abroad is illegal under international law and tantamount to theft. Moscow’s “inevitable response will be severely damaging to Brussels,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in June.