Sweden has accused the European Union of providing “shameful” support to Russia and criticized Southern European countries for their financial parsimony. Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard leveled strong criticism at the EU’s financial policies on the sidelines of an EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting on November 20. She stated that European payments for Russian imports significantly outweigh the aid provided to Ukraine, as reported by European Pravda. Her remarks highlight a critical dilemma facing the EU since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began.
Sweden’s Call for Increased Ukraine Aid and Frozen Assets
Maria Malmer Stenergard presented journalists with striking statistics:
☛ Energy Imports: Since the invasion began, the EU has imported oil and gas from Russia totaling €201 billion.
☛ Total Imports: Including other imported goods, the total payments to Russia reached €311 billion.
☛ The Discrepancy: This means the European Union paid Russia €124 billion more for imports than it provided in support to Ukraine.
“The truth is that support for Ukraine is not enough, and support for Russia is too much… This is nothing short of shameful,” Malmer Stenergard emphasized.
According to her, this imbalance undermines any hope for a reasonable peace. Sweden believes that to increase pressure on Russia and achieve a fair negotiation process, support for Ukraine must be immediately scaled up.
Frozen Assets as a Key to Victory
The Swedish minister pointed to what she considers an obvious and financially significant step the EU should take: utilizing frozen Russian assets for Ukraine’s benefit.
The fate of frozen Russian funds remains one of the most contentious issues within the EU. The total value of assets belonging to the Russian Central Bank and private individuals blocked in Europe is estimated at hundreds of billions of euros. Stenergard specifically stated that using frozen assets, including those held at Euroclear, would be “a very good start” to rectify the current situation.
The Financial Heart of the Dispute — Euroclear
NEWSROOM IN notes that a significant portion of these frozen funds, specifically financial assets of the Russian Central Bank, are accumulated in the Brussels-based international securities depository, Euroclear, located in Belgium.
These blocked Russian assets generate substantial profits, which Euroclear is temporarily retaining. In 2023 alone, Euroclear’s net profit from these assets amounted to billions of euros.
The EU debate focuses on how to legally seize or redirect these profits (income from assets), and potentially the assets themselves, for Ukraine’s reconstruction. Belgium and other nations fear that seizing assets could undermine confidence in the euro as a reserve currency and lead to serious lawsuits from the Russian state and private holders. Belgium is asking EU countries to share these risks in potential legal disputes.
According to the Belgian publication De Tijd, out of €258 billion, only €65 billion is linked to sanctioned banks. The remainder comprises frozen transactions and assets belonging to third parties, including banks and Western companies. Of this, €55 billion was blocked due to sanctions against the National Settlement Depository (NSD), part of the Moscow Exchange group, which handles securities accounting and custody. Another €10 billion is linked to the assets of sanctioned Russian banks, potentially including their own or their clients’ funds and assets. The publication states that despite these banks’ clients not being under sanctions, their funds are also blocked.
Imbalance in NATO: Disproportionate Nordic Contribution
Amid her broader criticism of the EU, Maria Stenergard also raised concerns about the uneven burden-sharing of aid to Ukraine within NATO. In an interview with Politico, the minister stressed that Nordic countries are contributing disproportionately large amounts compared to other NATO members. “Almost the entire burden falls on the shoulders of a few countries. This is unfair and cannot continue in the long term,” she stated.
She clarified that Northern European states, with a combined population of less than 30 million people, provide one-third of all NATO military assistance to Ukraine, while the Alliance’s total population approaches one billion.
Politico presented figures illustrating this imbalance: Denmark has provided Ukraine with €10 billion in aid (3% of its GDP), whereas Spain has allocated only €1.5 billion (0.2% of its GDP). According to the minister, this disparity is telling: “It says a lot about what the Nordic countries are doing, but even more about what others are not.”
