Brussels, July 27 (SocialNews.XYZ) The European Union (EU) has announced that it has transferred 1.5 billion euros ($1.62 billion) worth of frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine.
The diversion of funds was made possible after the EU adopted a set of legal acts in May, allowing the use of these net profits for Ukraine's benefit, Xinhua news agency reported.
In a statement on Friday, the EU said this was the first payment derived from immobilised Russian assets. The funds will be allocated through the European Peace Facility and to the Ukraine Facility.
The 1.4 billion euros allocated to the European Peace Facility will be used to finance the acquisition of priority military equipment, including air defence systems and artillery ammunition, said Josep Borrell, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs.
"There is no better symbol or use for the Kremlin's money than to make Ukraine and all of Europe a safer place to live," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.
The Kremlin has condemned the EU's decision as illegal. "This is certainly a reason for thoughtful actions in response to such illegal decisions that are being implemented by the European Union," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, warning that the move will not go unanswered.
Source: IANS
About Gopi
Gopi Adusumilli is a Programmer. He is the editor of SocialNews.XYZ and President of AGK Fire Inc.
He enjoys designing websites, developing mobile applications and publishing news articles on current events from various authenticated news sources.
When it comes to writing he likes to write about current world politics and Indian Movies. His future plans include developing SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgment towards any.
He can be reached at gopi@socialnews.xyz