Who will pay to rebuild Ukraine? The European Union’s plan to expropriate Russian money

If you break it, you pay for it. But what happens when we talk about the destruction of a country? For Josep Borrell, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Unionthe logic is the same, so Russia must pay for the damage it caused by invading and bombing Ukraine.

Of course, confiscate”Russia’s reserves frozen by“The West is just one possibility.

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“This is one of the most important political questions on the table: who is going to pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine?Borrell questioned.

And I add: “I would be very much in favor [de usar las reservas] because it makes a lot of sense. We have the money in our pockets and someone would have to explain to me why it can be done with Afghan money, but not with Russian”.

The precedent is clear: at the time, USA expropriated the “goods of Afghanistan to finance the humanitarian aid to that country and compensation to victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks”.

Specifically, remember the Deutsche Welle, USA took about $3.5 billion “in frozen assets of the Central Bank of Afghanistan in order to be able to compensate the victims”.

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money as court

If this initiative materializes, the coup against Russia it would be very hard. According to the Financial Times, by March of this year, “frozen gold and foreign exchange reserves” from Moscowas well as the “mansions, land or yachts” of oligarchs, added $300 billion.

In response, Alexander Grushko, Deputy Foreign Minister of Russiaargued that the expropriation would mean “the destruction of the very foundations of international relations, and these decisions, if taken, will affect the Europeans themselves, the financial system and will undermine confidence in Europe and in the West in general, because this is complete anarchy and, rather, the law of the jungle”.

Josep Borrell, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union (Álvaro Padilla/)

In this regard, the internationalist Norberto Barreto he wonders how feasible it is to carry out these plans.

And not only that: “How convenient is it to follow that path?”

“It seems to me that the discourse of Western countries is taking a dangerous turn, especially that of USA”, notes Barreto.

And adds: “OK, Russia needs to be put under pressure, but how smart is it to corner Vladimir Putin’s country?”.

Because, for the specialist, it is necessary to remember which is the objective from West. “Is it sought to help Ukraine or regime change? Is it sought to negotiate with Russia or defeat it? Is the plan to weaken it?

“These types of proposals, moreover, are music for Russian propaganda. It must be remembered that Putin sells the invasion of Ukraine as a defensive act against the Western threat”.

This “would be” the ultimate proof that he was always right.

Russian President Vladimir Putin. AP (Mikhail Metzel/)

The dimensions of the blow

Confiscation is an idea that Borrell shares with some MEPs. In fact, according to “La Vanguardia”, the proposal “It’s been hanging around for weeks Brussels”.

For example, Domenech Ruiz-Devesa “-supported by members of the popular, liberal, green, and non-attached-” wrote a letter to the European Comission with the order, remembering that the same President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyperformed a calculation of the damage series.

“Schools, hospitals, museums and cultural heritage have disappeared and with it the basis of Ukraine’s social infrastructure”, the letter reads.

To the same, to Charles Michel, President of the European Council, he likes the idea. “It is extremely important not only to freeze assets, but to make their confiscation possible in order to make them available for the reconstruction of the country.“, Held.

But it is not the only plan that is handled. In April and recently, donor meetings were held for the purpose of raising money for Ukraine. In the first meeting, 9,100 million euros were obtained and, in the last, 6 billion, “figures far below the vital needs of Ukraine”.

“El País” explains that “during the war period”, kyiv needs “about 5,000 million euros per month for current state spending such as salaries and pensions”, while for the postwar period, some “hundreds of billions of euros”.

Will the expropriation take place? Will it be enough to rebuild Ukraine?

Source: Elcomercio