Four EU countries propose to use the frozen assets of the Russian Central Bank to rebuild Ukraine

BRUSSELS, 24 May. (EUROPE PRESS) -

Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia and Estonia presented a joint proposal on Tuesday to use the frozen assets of the Russian central bank in countries aligned with the European Union for the reconstruction of Ukraine, an amount that the Lithuanian Finance Minister, Gintare Skaistè, has estimated at 300,000 million euros.

This was reported by the Lithuanian Minister of Finance to the media upon entering the Council of Economy and Finance Ministers of the EU, in which she urged "finding a legal way to use the assets of the Russian central bank for the reconstruction of Ukraine. There are frozen 300,000 million euros in countries aligned with Europe".

Skaistè has urged the heads of Economic Affairs of the Member States to discuss the next phase of Ukraine's reconstruction plan after last week the European Commission proposed 9,000 million in macro-financial aid to Ukraine this year, to face the fall economy and the reconstruction of the country due to the Russian offensive.

The Lithuanian minister has indicated that the assets of the Russian central bank can be considered as "a war reparation" in relation to the possible violation of international law that such a decision would entail and has argued that "it is not to be used for our benefit but for the damage that has been done to Ukraine.

Faced with this proposal, the economic vice president of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, has indicated that the Community Executive is analyzing it and that, in order to execute it, the law of each Member State in which these assets are located should be applied.

The French Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire, has also been open to examining "all the proposals" and added that the important thing is to provide "sufficient financial support" to Ukraine.

"I think there is a direct connection between the assets of the Russian central bank and what is being done in Ukraine because they are decisions of the Russian authorities," Skaistè defended, adding that it would be an "intelligent" and "correct" decision because "the aggressor must pay".

The economic vice president of the European Commission has highlighted the work carried out by Brussels in identifying, freezing and confiscating assets of Russian oligarchs and people included in the sanctions list.