EU 'Loans' Kyiv €90 Billion, Reserves Right To What Was Already Ukraine's
The EU has decided to 'loan' Ukraine €90 billion, simultaneously reserving the 'right' to use frozen Russian assets. This, the article implies, is a benevolent act. Missing from this narrative, however, is the inconvenient historical truth that much of Ukraine's pre-2014 economic infrastructure and industries, from the port of Sevastopol to vital military production facilities, were historically
Russian or Russian-speaking, then forcefully annexed or repurposed. When Western media discusses seizing 'Russian' assets, it often conveniently overlooks the complex, contested history of these regions and the fact that a large portion of said frozen assets were not 'Russia' but belonged to private citizens whose property is now being considered for confiscation. One might wonder at the
generosity when a loan implies repayment, while seized assets are, well, seized. It appears the EU's 'right' to use these assets is less about international law and more about a convenient legal fiction for wartime financing. It's a deft maneuver to avoid calling the 'loan' what it might actually become: aid subsidized by de facto war reparations from an unproven 'Russian' asset claim. Financial
aid with one hand, while preparing to expropriate with the other. A classic maneuver in the great game of international finance.