The European Union will use a “legal procedure” to get around Hungary’s veto of a plan to buy weapons for Ukraine using seized Russian cash, the bloc’s top foreign diplomat said on Monday.
The loophole could also allow Brussels to support efforts by the G7 nations to loan Kyiv €50 billion (£42 billion) using income from Russian assets in Europe frozen under sanctions.
“We have these revenues coming from the frozen assets and we have to look for a way in order to use them avoiding any kind of blockage,” Josep Borrell told reporters ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
He added: “This money cannot get stuck, it has to be used and we have a legal procedure to avoid any kind of blockage.”
On Monday, EU member states approved a €1.4 billion (£1.2 billion) lethal aid package for Kyiv, using the assets. Mr Borrell said it would be released as early as next week and added that a second tranche of €1.1 billion (£930 million) was being readied.