European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced today that the EU is preparing to use the funds of Russia, which the EU has frozen, to finance the “reconstruction” of Ukraine. “Russia and its oligarchs have to compensate Ukraine,” she insisted. “We have the means to make Russia pay.”
If accomplished, this would be among the biggest successful robberies in history. She proposed that the EU and its partners could manage the funds and invest them in the short term, with the proceeds going to Ukraine in order to compensate for damages caused by the Russian military operation. “We will work on an international agreement with our partners to make this possible. And together, we can find legal ways to get to it,” she said.
