*** Official Russia vs. Ukraine Discussion - Invasion has begun *** (3 Viewers)

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Belgium hits back at EU plan to use frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine

Belgium has hit back against an EU plan to use Russia’s frozen assets to aid Ukraine, describing the scheme as “fundamentally wrong” and throwing into doubt how Europe will fund Kyiv. In a sharply worded letter, Belgium’s prime minister, Bart De Wever, said the proposal violated international law and would instigate uncertainty and fear in financial markets, damaging the euro. “These risks are unfortunately not academic but real,” he wrote to the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen.
Belgium hosts €183bn of Russian assets, about two-thirds of the Russian assets immobilised in the west, at the Brussels-based central securities depository Euroclear.

The Belgian government said it wanted to see a legal text and has faulted the lack of detail about risk-sharing with the other 26 member states if the plan goes wrong. Brussels has also called for legal proposals on common EU borrowing to fund Ukraine, using unspent funds in the EU budget as the guarantee. De Wever argues this option would be cheaper than using the assets, once the risks are factored in.
The commission has suggested money for Ukraine could be funded by common borrowing on capital markets, but member states are unenthusiastic. Germany, Sweden, as well as central and eastern European states and von der Leyen, argue the frozen assets plan is the best option. The commission says the scheme does not equate to confiscation of the Russian assets.
EU diplomats admit the plan is fraught with complexity, not least because it requires a unanimous decision – including Hungary’s Kremlin-friendly government – to ensure the Russian assets remain frozen in perpetuity. Some say that even under a best-case scenario the frozen assets plan could take months to yield funds for Ukraine and that other short-term bridging loans could be needed.

 

[djmich]

https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/28/world/andriy-yermak-ukraine-corruption-raid-intl

 

[fatness]

Russia outlaws Human Rights Watch as crackdown on dissent continues

Russian authorities on Friday outlawed Human Rights Watch as an “undesirable organization,” a label that under a 2015 law makes involvement with such organizations a criminal offense. The designation means the international human rights group must stop all work in Russia, and opens those who cooperate with or support the organization to prosecution.

“For over three decades, Human Rights Watch’s work on post-Soviet Russia has pressed the government to uphold human rights and freedoms,” the executive director at Human Rights Watch, Philippe Bolopion, said in a statement. “Our work hasn’t changed, but what’s changed, dramatically, is the government’s full-throttled embrace of dictatorial policies, its staggering rise in repression, and the scope of the war crimes its forces are committing in Ukraine.” The decision by the Russian prosecutor general’s office is the latest move in an unrelenting crackdown on Kremlin critics, journalists and activists, which has intensified to unprecedented levels since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

And this bit of Russian stupidity at the end:

In a separate statement on Friday, the office said it was opening a case against Russian feminist punk band ***** Riot that would designate the group as an extremist organization.

 

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Ukraine says it hit Russian ‘shadow fleet’ tankers with underwater drones in Black Sea

Ukrainian underwater drones have struck two tankers belonging to Russia’s so-called shadow fleet in the Black Sea, according to an official in Ukraine’s security services (SBU). Ukraine claimed the attacks after explosions hit the two vessels on Friday and Saturday. A Ukrainian security source told CNN that Sea Baby maritime drones had been used in a joint operation by the SBU and the navy. There was no immediate comment from Russia. Both tankers sustained critical damage, the source said, and were effectively taken out of service. “This will deal a significant blow to the transportation of Russian oil.”

Russia uses hundreds of tankers – many sailing under different flags of convenience – to ship its oil to customers in defiance of sanctions.