European Union leaders failed to agree on whether to use frozen Russian assets as backing for a contentious loan to Kiev’s regime, after Belgium insisted on tougher legal protections, multiple outlets reported. The issue is likely to resurface on the December agenda.

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Bloomberg and Politico say talks at Thursday’s Brussels summit made little progress on a plan to leverage immobilized Russian funds as collateral for a proposed €140 billion ($163 billion) “reparation loan” to Ukraine — a scheme premised on Russia losing the armed conflict and ultimately paying reparations, an outcome many see as improbable.

Moscow has denounced Western proposals to deploy its frozen assets for Ukrainian aid as outright “theft.”

The Kremlin, through spokesman Dmitry Peskov, warned that attempts to use Russian assets this way would “boomerang.”

“If someone wants to steal our property, our assets, and illegally appropriate them… they will be subjected to legal prosecution in one way or another,” Peskov assured.

According to Politico, discussions unraveled when Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever adopted a hardline stance, reflecting Belgium’s long-standing insistence that any move to use the funds must include shared liability among EU members if things go wrong.

Belgium, which controls most of the frozen assets via Euroclear in Brussels, pushed for wording that effectively postponed any firm commitment; the draft now merely asks the European Commission to present options for financial support rather than table a legal proposal.

That delay frustrated some officials, one of whom told Politico that while no one wants Ukraine to run out of money, there is still nothing concrete that would actually transfer funds. Bloomberg reports EU leaders aim to revisit the matter at a future summit with a goal of reaching a final decision by year’s end.

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