Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, has announced a new €35 billion financial aid package for Ukraine. The loan will be secured by frozen Russian assets and will be provided without the involvement of the United States.
European leaders said the loan would initially move forward without U.S. contributions after talks between American and European officials reached an impasse in recent days, The New York Times reported.
EU member states and the European Parliament are due to vote on the loan announced on Friday; if the proposal receives the required number of votes, Brussels is set to provide the funds by the end of the year.
The loan announced on Friday is less than the $50 billion that the United States and other major economies of the Group of Seven agreed to provide in June. Washington had intended to provide $20 billion to $25 billion in the loan, but only on terms that would prevent the EU from reviewing sanctions against Russia for three years.
The process of reaching an agreement between European and American officials has been difficult due to legal issues. One stumbling block has been the EU's requirement, which holds two-thirds of Russia's central bank assets, to review the sanctions that have frozen the assets every six months.
Because any change in sanctions could unblock frozen Russian money that is the basis of the loan, the United States said it would move forward with its contribution only if Brussels agreed to extend the sanctions review period to 36 months.
However, any change to the review period requires the approval of all 27 EU member states, and Hungary, which has established close ties with Russia, objected.
To resolve the impasse, EU officials decided to move forward with a smaller loan that does not include Washington's participation, although von der Leyen said she was "absolutely confident" that the United States and others would eventually contribute.
