Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, announced a new package of financial aid for Ukraine in the amount of 35 billion euros. This 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 advance without a U.S. contribution after talks between U.S. and European officials reached an impasse in recent days, The New York Times reported.
EU member states and the European Parliament are to vote on the loan announced on Friday; if the proposal receives the required number of votes, Brussels is going to provide the funds by the end of the year.
The loan announced Friday is less than the $50 billion the United States and other major Group of Seven economies agreed to provide in June. Washington intended to contribute 20 to 25 billion dollars in credit, but only on terms that would not allow the EU to review sanctions against Russia within three years.
The process of concluding an agreement between European and American officials was difficult due to legal issues. One of the stumbling blocks has been the requirement that the EU, which holds two-thirds of Russia's central bank assets, review the sanctions that froze the assets every six months.
Because any change in sanctions could unlock the frozen Russian money that underpins the loan, the United States has said it will move forward with its contribution only if Brussels agrees 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, has 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.
