Finland's foreign minister says profits from Russian assets should be used to buy weapons for Ukraine

Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen believes that the profits from frozen Russian assets should be used to arm Ukraine.

Valtonen said in an interview with Finnish broadcaster Yle that the EU and the US should work together to implement this idea.

The G7 and the EU have frozen about €300 billion in Russian funds. Their estimated yield is about €3 billion a year.

"These funds could be used for supplying weapons and defense equipment and, in the long term, for Ukraine's recovery," Valtonen noted.

However, the minister stressed that this is a rather complicated legal issue.

"One of our main values here in the West is the inviolability of private property. However, not all citizens understand why we cannot simply seize the funds of a neighbouring state that is waging a brutal, aggressive war without complying with any international norms. Nevertheless, we must adhere to our principles," she said.

On 28 February, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen came up with a similar proposal.

Von der Leyen stated it was "time to start a conversation" about using the excess profits from frozen Russian assets for joint purchases of military goods for Ukraine.

Following the summit on 24 February, the leaders of the Group of Seven confirmed that they would keep the assets of Russia's Central Bank in their jurisdictions immobilised until the end of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine.