Page 32 - bne IntelliNews monthly magazine September 2024

32 I Central Europe bne September 2024
Minister of Defence of the Czech Republic Jana Cernochová met Minister of Strategic Industry of Ukraine Oleksandr Kamyshin in Prague. / Czech defence ministry
Czech ammunition initiative for Ukraine will use earnings from Russian assets frozen in EU
Albin Sybera
Part of the earnings from the Russian assets frozen in the European Union will be used to purchase ammunition for Ukraine within the Czech-led ammunition initiative.
“We can purchase hundreds of thousands of pieces of the much needed large-calibre ammunition for Ukraine [using the funds],” Czech Minister of Defence Jana Cernochova wrote on her X account.”
Czech Radio reported that the interest on some €300bn of frozen Russian assets in the EU is about €1.4bn.
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In June, the EU state agreed to use these earnings to purchase military and other forms of aid for Ukraine but avoided using the assets directly to avoid international arbitrations.
Cernochova added that “it is a unique opportunity to support Ukraine” and
“use resources originally belonging to Russia and save public finances of European countries”.
Cernochova also described the move as “another proof of the trust of allies in the Czech Republic and in our ammunition initiative”.
“The cabinet’s envoy for the reconstruction of Ukraine, Tomas Kopecny, said that 18 countries worldwide backed the initiative and 15 of these contributed financially”