EU prepares to lock up Russia' S frozen assets

The European Union was expected on Friday to lock up Russia's assets held in Europe until it gives up its war in Ukraine and compensates its neighbour for the heavy damage it has inflicted for almost four years.

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The move is an important step that would allow EU leaders to work out at a summit next week how to use the tens of billions of euros in Russian Central Bank assets to underwrite a huge loan to help Ukraine meet its financial and military needs over the next two years.

Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán—Russian President Vladimir Putin's closest ally in Europe—accused the European Commission, which pre-

pared the decision, “of systematically raping European law.”