Guest post by Drieu Godefridi
In a stunning admission that exposes the deep divisions within the West, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk revealed on Tuesday that the United States is firmly pressuring Europe to back off from confiscating hundreds of billions in frozen Russian sovereign assets.
Tusk bluntly stated that Washington views these funds as critical leverage for upcoming peace negotiations with Russia—warning that outright theft would torpedo any chance of a deal to end the Ukraine conflict.
“The Americans say: leave these Russian assets alone,” Tusk explained, highlighting the “absolutely obvious” split between the U.S. position and Europe’s hawkish warmongers who want to raid the funds immediately to prop up Kyiv’s failing war machine.
According to Tusk, seizing the money now would make it difficult to sit across the table from Putin and demand compromise. It is indeed difficult to ask for concessions from someone who is winning the war while stealing their money.
This bombshell comes as the radical plan—pushed aggressively by the European Commission and Germany—to use up to €165 billion in immobilized Russian central bank assets (mostly held at Belgium’s Euroclear) for a massive “reparations loan” to Ukraine hits a brick wall.
The scheme, which Moscow has repeatedly branded as outright theft, was already on life support due to fierce opposition from Belgium, legal threats from Russia, and now direct intervention from the Trump administration.
Adding fuel to the fire, Fitch Ratings slapped Euroclear Bank with a “Rating Watch Negative” on December 16, 2025—the first such move in years—citing skyrocketing legal, liquidity, and credit risks tied directly to the EU’s reckless plot.
Fitch warned of potential maturity mismatches on Euroclear’s balance sheet if Russian liabilities suddenly become payable, alongside a flood of litigation that could cripple this cornerstone of the global financial system.
Russia isn’t sitting idly by
The Central Bank of Russia has already filed lawsuits against Euroclear in Moscow courts, seeking hundreds of billions in damages for the immobilization of its sovereign property. With the EU’s freeze now in place (bypassing regular renewals to dodge vetoes from sane members like Hungary), the stage is set for a brutal legal war that could expose European hypocrisy and deter investors worldwide.
Tusk himself admitted the EU is light years away from actually touching these assets for Ukraine’s military or reconstruction—despite the bloc’s endless virtue-signaling about “helping Kyiv.” Washington wants a coordinated approach that preserves the funds for a post-conflict settlement, benefiting real peace rather than endless escalation.
This development is a massive victory for common sense and a humiliating setback for the globalist elites in Brussels who thought they could plunder Russian wealth without consequences.
As financial markets react to Fitch’s downgrade and U.S. pressure mounts, Europe’s grand theft plan looks dead in the water—proving once again that you can’t just steal from a nuclear superpower and expect to get away with it.
The Trump era is already reshaping the Ukraine debacle, prioritizing negotiation over provocation. Peace might actually have a chance if the warmongers in Europe finally stand down.
Drieu Godefridi is a PhD from the Sorbonne and a leading voice on European lost sovereignty.
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