EU and partners will create plan to seize Russia's frozen assets for Ukraine's needs

Euractiv reported this with reference to the statement of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

She said that Russia and its oligarchs should compensate Ukraine for the losses and cover the costs of the country's recovery. And the European Commission has the means to make Russia pay.

According to Ursula von der Leyen, the damage caused to Ukraine is estimated at EUR 600 billion. She emphasized that the EU and its partners have blocked EUR 300 billion of reserves of the Russian Central Bank and frozen EUR 19 billion of Russian oligarchs' money.

The President of the European Commission noted that in the short term, the EU, together with its partners, could create a structure for managing these funds and investing them.

Ursula von der Leyen added that they would then use the received funds for Ukraine. And after the lifting of sanctions, these funds should be used to ensure that Russia pays full compensation for the damage caused to Ukraine.

It is noted that the EU will work on an international agreement with partners to make this possible in a legal way. However, currently the problem is that in most EU member states, confiscation of frozen assets is legally possible only if there is a criminal conviction.