Italy's Meloni says using frozen Russian assets for Ukraine 'far from easy' ahead of EU summit

By Angelo Amante

Finding a legal way to use frozen Russian assets to help finance Ukraine remains "far from easy", Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Wednesday, ahead of a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels.

Addressing parliament, Meloni said Italy backed efforts to make Moscow bear the costs of its invasion of Ukraine, but warned that any mechanism must rest on firm legal foundations and avoid exposing countries to open-ended liabilities.

Italy is one of the EU's largest economies and its position on financing could sway the balance between countries pushing for bold measures to sustain Ukraine and those worried about legal blowback and market instability.

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"Italy, of course, considers sacred the principle that Russia should primarily pay for the reconstruction of the nation it attacked, but this result must be achieved with a solid legal basis," Meloni said.

She added that she wanted clarity over the proposed use of Russian assets "particularly those related to reputation, retaliation, or new, heavy burdens on national budgets".

EU leaders are set to review on Thursday proposals aimed at using proceeds from immobilised Russian sovereign assets, mostly held in Belgium, to support Ukraine's huge budget and defence needs -- something Moscow fiercely opposes.

The main problem still to be resolved is Belgium's demand that others in the 27-nation bloc share the financial risks if Russia were to successfully sue either Belgium or the Belgian central securities depository Euroclear, where they are held.

Meloni has consistently supported Ukraine following the Russian invasion, reassuring Western allies who feared she might follow the pro-Moscow line of one of her coalition parties, the far-right League.

Meloni on Wednesday said Russia was making "unreasonable" demands in U.S.-brokered peace discussions, singling out Moscow's insistence on controlling the entire Donbas region.

"Unlike what propaganda claims, the main obstacle to a peace agreement is Russia's inability to conquer the four Ukrainian regions that it unilaterally declared annexed in late 2022," Meloni said, referring to the fact Moscow has demanded control over areas that it has failed to seize by arms.

She added that significant progress had been made in recent talks in Berlin on security guarantees for Ukraine.

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