Kyiv Slams EU's Payout Using Frozen Russian Assets

Ukraine's government has criticized a decision to take billions of euros of Russian wealth frozen in Europe and hand it to Western investors, warning that it weakened Europe's stand against Moscow.

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The criticism follows a move in May by Belgium's Euroclear to take €3 billion ($4.4 billion) of Russian investor cash held at the clearing firm to pay Westerners who lost out when Moscow seized their money held in Russia.

Now Ukraine has warned that it sends the wrong signal and threatens to weaken Europe's hand against Russia, while it debates using the entire US$300 billion ($386 billion) of Russian wealth stranded in Europe to rebuild and defend the battered country.

"If private investors are compensated before the victims of war, it won't be justice," said Ms Iryna Mudra, a senior official in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's office, in Kyiv's first public comments on the move.

"It creates a perception of inconsistency, of Europe wavering in its resolve," Ms Mudra, a deputy head of Ukraine's presidential administration, told Reuters.