Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner led the US team into talks in Miami on 9 October with representatives of Ukraine, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the European Union and NATO.
Their proposal asked European countries to unfreeze part of the Russian assets frozen since the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, then transfer them to a structure controlled by Washington. US negotiators set out several options for releasing the funds, including this US-controlled arrangement.
The assets were being discussed as part of a comprehensive peace agreement. Their control became a point of disagreement in the Miami meeting.
European representatives rejected the proposal. Officials at the meeting opposed giving control of the assets to anyone and ruled out returning any share of them to Moscow.
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The plan also caused concern among European representatives and Kyiv, which questioned both US intentions and Washington’s different approach to pressuring Moscow.
The dispute centres on Russian Central Bank assets worth 260 billion euros, frozen in Western countries after Russia launched its war in 2022. About 193 billion euros is held at the Belgian depositary Euroclear.
Income from the funds held at Euroclear finances a loan of up to 50 billion euros to Ukraine.
In December 2025, the European Union used a special procedure, which did not require support from all member states, to approve an indefinite freeze on Russian assets. That freeze is to remain in place until Russia ends the war and compensates Ukraine for the damage.
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