Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever met with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at 10 Downing Street on Friday for high-level bilateral discussions, with a central focus on the potential use of frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine.
In his capacity as co-chair of the Coalition of the Willing, Starmer was anticipated to build on recent deliberations in Brussels with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen regarding a proposed framework to channel the value of €165 billion ($194 billion) in immobilized Russian assets into a loan for Kyiv.
In a readout of the meeting, Downing Street said that Starmer and De Wever had discussed ongoing work “on addressing Ukraine’s financial needs, including through the use of the value of immobilized Russian Sovereign Assets.”
“They agreed to continue to work closely together to make progress on this complex issue,” it continued.
It added that both leaders believed that “keeping up the economic pressure on Russia and putting Ukraine in the strongest possible position would remain the only way to achieve a just and lasting peace.”
Starmer and De Wever also discussed security, migration and growth, Downing Street said.
Belgium, where the bulk of the frozen funds are held under the stewardship of the Brussels-based depository Euroclear, has consistently opposed the EU plan, preventing its advancement to date.
De Wever has characterized the proposal as “fundamentally wrong,” citing potential violations of international law and risks to the stability of the euro.
Brussels also remains wary of potential legal reprisals from Moscow and has demanded robust financial safeguards from EU capitals before considering any endorsement of the Commission’s plan.
These apprehensions were likely intensified by a statement from Russia’s central bank on Friday, announcing its intention to initiate legal action against Euroclear for allegedly unlawfully obstructing access to its frozen funds and securities.
The announcement followed an EU decision on Thursday by ambassadors to keep funds frozen without requiring unanimous renewal every six months, a move designed to prevent Russia-aligned Hungary and Slovakia from blocking future votes.
This development is seen as clearing a key hurdle for what has been dubbed the “reparations loan,” ahead of EU leaders’ planned discussions on the Ukraine funding framework at a summit on December 18.
EU officials anticipate that the proposed mechanism would cover roughly two-thirds of Ukraine’s projected financial requirements over the next two years, with the remainder expected to come from Kyiv’s “international partners.”
The UK has expressed support for leveraging these funds to aid Ukraine. Nevertheless, British banks are reportedly resistant to proposals involving the £8 billion ($10.7bn) in Russian assets under their custody, citing the absence of governmental indemnity against potential Moscow reprisals, according to the Financial Times on Thursday.
“We’re concerned about the legality… the government is setting a new precedent because they have never seized assets in this type of way,” one senior banker told the paper. “Russia will sue for them.”
“The legal risk is that if Ukraine doesn’t pay back, you need to repossess an asset that the government says is yours but Russia says isn’t,” an adviser to major lenders added.