Russian invasion The world's response

Euroclear warns EU: Frozen assets are uncharted territory

The financial institution Euroclear, which holds the frozen Russian assets, is warning the EU against using the money to rebuild Ukraine. Reuters reports.

- It is completely uncharted territory, says the financial institution's CEO Valerie Urbain about the EU's proposed loans, adding that they are "legally questionable".

Urbain believes that there is no "free money for the EU", since the assets belong to Euroclear and are tied to the Russian central bank.

Last week, the EU proposed using 90 billion euros in frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine.

Increasing French pressure to unlock secret Russian billions

Around 18 billion euros in frozen Russian assets, the second largest sum after what is in Belgium, are in France. Now the pressure on the country to unlock the money and use the capital to support Ukraine is increasing, writes the Financial Times.

The state Russian money is held by private banks, whose identities are still secret, citing customer confidentiality, something that has irritated other European countries. This is stated by sources.

According to Nicolas Véron, a researcher at the Bruegel think tank, there is extremely little market transparency between commercial players and central banks' foreign exchange reserves.

- No one wants to reveal to the world where they invest their money, he tells the newspaper.

EU leaders' demand: "Use the Russian frozen

Seven EU leaders, including Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, are urging the union to move forward quickly with the proposal to use frozen Russian assets to finance loans to Ukraine, Reuters reports.

The call is presented in a joint letter to European Council President António Costa and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

"Supporting Ukraine in its fight for freedom and independence is not only a moral obligation - it is also in our own interest," the leaders write.

In addition to Kristersson, the letter is signed by the leaders of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Ireland and Poland.

"Sweden needs more and better Russia experts"

The relationship with Russia is the biggest challenge for Sweden and Europe, and for a long time Sweden had world-leading expertise - but recently it has stagnated. This is written by Maria Engqvist, who heads Russia research at The Swedish National Defence Research Institute (FOI), on SvD Debate.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Swedish research on Russia was dismantled, according to Engqvist – today, the education focuses mostly on the Russian language and literature rather than politics, trade and economics. This is at the same time that the authorities are in a tug-of-war over everyone who has the slightest knowledge of the country, she continues.

“If we do not join forces, Sweden will soon be without a strategically important knowledge resource, in a geopolitical situation where this knowledge is more important than ever.”