Russian President Vladimir Putin may be capable of many things, including leading Russians to slaughter, but he is not ready to lose the war, Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever said in an interview with HLN.
The Belgian prime minister also noted that Russia is a resilient nation and expressed his opinion on the use of frozen Russian assets to “finance the war“.
“You can't have your cake and eat it at the same time. And if we use this money to finance the war, we also assume that the Russians will be exhausted in two years. They are a resilient nation. A tsar like Putin can do anything: starve his people, lead them to slaughter and commit genocide here and there. But lose the war? He cannot do that,” said Bart de Wever.
In addition, the Belgian Prime Minister, commenting on the European Commission’s proposal to provide Ukraine with a “reparation loan” using frozen Russian assets, said that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen “should cycle around Europe to reach a compromise.”
During a conversation with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the Belgian Prime Minister noted the need to preserve the possibility of using frozen Russian assets for negotiations with Putin.
Earlier, Belgium rejected the concessions proposed by the European Commission for unblocking a 210 billion euro loan to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets. The Commission proposed legal amendments to its initiative to secure Belgian support. A proposal was made to withhold funds from Ukraine until EU countries provide financial guarantees for at least 50% of the payments.
The EU agreed to provide Ukraine with an interest-free loan of €90 billion.