A $233 billion Russian court judgment against Euroclear and the EU’s €90 billion Ukraine loan stand behind a reported US effort to put some frozen Russian sovereign assets under Washington’s supervision. The proposal would require Europe to reconsider how funds held under its sanctions regime could be controlled and used.
US envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner raised the idea at talks in Miami last week, according to a Financial Times report citing people briefed on the discussions. European delegates rejected it, the newspaper reported.
The proposed arrangement would release some of approximately €260 billion in Russian sovereign assets immobilized by Western governments and place them in a US-supervised financial vehicle, according to the FT. No agreed amount, ownership structure, or financial terms have been disclosed.
Sponsored · Selkirk Copper Mines
In December 2025, EU leaders agreed to lend Ukraine €90 billion for 2026 and 2027 through borrowing backed by the EU budget. That loan is not directly funded by frozen Russian principal. Under the agreement, Ukraine is expected to repay only after receiving Russian reparations, while the EU reserves the right to use immobilized assets for repayment under applicable law.
A separate December regulation prohibits direct or indirect transfers of Russian central-bank assets. Whether a US-managed structure could comply with those restrictions depends on its actual terms.
Euroclear, the Belgian securities depository holding much of the immobilized money, reported €202 billion of sanctioned Russian assets on its €241 billion balance sheet as of June 30.
The sanctions generated €2.3 billion in interest earnings for Euroclear in the first half of 2026, down 13% year over year. The company provisioned €1.5 billion for an EU windfall contribution and reported €146 million in direct costs related to Russian sanctions and countermeasures.
A Moscow court ruled in May that Euroclear should pay Russia’s central bank 18.2 trillion rubles in damages. An appeal was rejected July 16, when Reuters valued the judgment at $233 billion. Euroclear rejects the claim and Russian court jurisdiction. It said the judgment is not recognized under EU law.
Washington has explored an investment-led solution before. A November 2025 US-backed draft peace plan reviewed by Reuters would have put $100 billion in frozen Russian assets into US-led reconstruction projects, with the US receiving 50% of profits. Its remaining funds would have gone into a separate US-Russia investment vehicle.
