ROME, April 11. /TASS/. The EU will likely use frozen Russian assets as a bargaining chip in potential talks on a settlement in Ukraine, according to Mariano Gambaro, head of the advisory division at Finnat Bank.
"There is little European banks can do with these assets. It is not easy for the European Central Bank to unblock them either. It now seems most likely that this could become an aspect of negotiations that will allow the EU to participate in them. That means it will be a bargaining chip for the Europeans," the analyst said.
According to Gambaro, a return of Western banks to Russia could also be brought up in the potential talks. Some of the lenders have suffered heavy losses when they had to limit their operations in the country.
"I think it will take a long time for, say, UniCredit to bring its assets back to Russia," he said.
Earlier, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal announced that the European Union had transferred to Kiev the third tranche of 1 billion euros under the Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration emergency lending program. The tranche was funded with income from frozen Russian assets. According to the official, European allies have provided Ukraine with a total of 5 billion euros under the program.
The decision to use proceeds from frozen Russian assets for providing loans to Ukraine was made by the Group of Seven countries last year. Afterward, following lengthy negotiations, details of a $50 billion loan to Ukraine were also agreed.
The EU, Canada, the US and Japan have frozen Russia's assets of about $300 billion after the start of the Russian special military operation. Of that amount, just about $5 billion to $6 billion is held in the US, while most of it is in the custody of Europe, including the Belgium-based financial market infrastructure group Euroclear. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned that Russia would respond harshly if proceeds from Russian assets were transferred to Ukraine.