total amount frozen russian special assets In the European Union, it amounted to about 18.9 billion euros as a result of the eight sanctions packages approved so far by Twenty-seven against Moscow due to the war in Ukraine, Central Bank reserves Russia, It is estimated that there are 300,000 million immobilized by the G7 countries and the EU due to the transaction ban. A volume that European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen proposes to dedicate, as the president has been demanding for months, now to finance the rebuilding of Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelensky.
Brussels proposes to move to Russia to use the frozen assets and “pay financially for the devastation it has caused” by Vladimir Putin’s regime. According to his estimates, world Bank Collected in the document sent to Twenty-seven, the total damage in Ukraine since Putin ordered the invasion of the country on February 24 appears to be close to 350,000 million euros. A figure that has not reached the ceiling and will continue to increase as long as Russian aggression continues. In fact, von der Leyen measured the amount of damage this Wednesday. 600,000 million euros. “Russia and its oligarchs need to compensate for the damage done to Ukraine and cover the costs of rebuilding the country.”
To do this, the European Commission plans to use almost 19.000 million euro private assets by Member States to oligarchs and organizations and 300 billion from the reserves of the Central Bank of Russia It was blocked by the G7 countries and the EU. “In the short term, together with our partners, we can create a structure to manage and invest in these funds. Then we will use the proceeds from this money, and when sanctions are lifted, these funds will be used to pay Russia in full for the damage it caused to Ukraine,” he said.
task of leaders
The initiative is responding to the mandate given by European leaders when they asked Brussels at the last summit in late October to present options to use frozen Russian assets to support the rebuilding of Ukraine, but community sources acknowledge that this will not be easy to implement. will not be implemented in the short term. “There will be stages in terms of negotiation and adoption of legal instruments. This is not something that will happen immediately. We are in a medium-term time horizon,” they admit.
In parallel, Brussels also special international courtunder the umbrella of the United Nations to prosecute Moscow’s crimes. “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has brought untold death, destruction and suffering. We all remember the horrors of Bucha. Von der Leyen announced in a video message posted on Twitter this Wednesday, before revealing the double offer made to the permanent ambassadors of Twenty-seven, that Russia must pay the price for its heinous crimes, including the crime of attacking a sovereign State.
“We propose to establish a UN-backed specialized tribunal to investigate and prosecute Russia’s crime of aggression.. We are ready to work to get the widest possible international support for this specialized court,” he said, pointing to an initiative that the Baltic states have been demanding for months.