A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
European Union leaders are holding a summit in Brussels, where they're announcing new sanctions against Russia for its war in Ukraine. They'll also discuss the EU's role in the peace process for the war in Gaza. But top of the agenda is a plan to give Ukraine a massive loan using frozen Russian assets that are located in Europe. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be at the summit pressing EU leaders to support the idea. Reporter Teri Schultz will be at the summit, too. She joins us now to tell us some more. All right, so tell us about this plan that, to me, sounds like Russia would have a big problem with.
TERI SCHULTZ, BYLINE: That's right. And it's controversial also among EU leaders. So we're talking about a sum of about 140 billion euros - that's a little over $160 billion - that belongs to the Russian central bank, but it's been held in Europe, mostly in Belgium, and has been immobilized due to Russia's full-scale war on Ukraine. Now, boiled down, the European Commission, the EU's executive branch, would like to give Ukraine a loan guaranteed by this Russian money. The reasoning is that Moscow will owe at least that much to Ukraine in an eventual peace settlement.
Now, the commission says, if Russia pays Ukraine this amount after the war, Ukraine can then pay the loan back, and Russia can have its frozen assets. And many EU leaders think this is a great idea. Others, particularly Belgium, which is worried about repercussions from Russia, don't necessarily want it to go ahead. But what's likely from this meeting is that the European Commission is given the green light to draw up at least the plan for creating this loan to Ukraine.
MARTÍNEZ: So it seems like a very creative way to get a lot of money to key without it coming out of European taxpayers' pockets.
SCHULTZ: Yeah, that's what its advocates say, and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy will be making that case fervently to the 27 EU heads of state and government. Here's how he put it yesterday in Sweden.
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PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: We need the decision on frozen assets, difficult decisions. We understand that it's not simple decision. Russia will do everything not to give us possibility to have such decision is to use money because they understand that they need to decrease financing of Ukraine during the war.
SCHULTZ: Now, Zelenskyy suggests it's Russian pressure creating division over this idea. But in the case of Belgium, which again hosts the institution holding most of these assets, the Belgians fear that at some point, Russia would have the right to demand this money back, and it would all be on the Belgians. So they want each of the other EU countries to sign a pledge sharing in backing this loan. And interestingly, these other EU member states are hesitant to do that so far.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, there are ways, there are other ways to put pressure on Moscow. The U.S. just imposed sanctions on Russia's two biggest oil companies. And I understand an EU sanctions package is also on the table at this summit.
SCHULTZ: That's right, and EU leaders and President Zelenskyy will very much welcome those U.S. sanctions. And the EU's 19th package of sanctions will also go through today, and it was approved just last night, so we know this is going to happen. It includes a gradual ban on imports of liquefied natural gas or LNG, which has been in the works for months, but Slovakia refused to let this package pass until it got some assurances the EU will help it out into other areas on high energy prices and on the impact of EU climate targets on Slovakian car makers. It's not clear exactly what was promised to Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, but apparently it was enough. And the next package - the 20th - is already in the works.
MARTÍNEZ: All right, Teri Schultz in Brussels, Teri, thank you very much.
SCHULTZ: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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