BERLIN Oct 29 Europe could hold the frozen 300 billion euros of Moscow's foreign exchange reserves as a guarantee until Russia takes part in the reconstruction of Ukraine, European Commissioner for Justice and Rule of Law Didier Reinders said.
«In my opinion, it is at least possible that these 300 billion euros can be as a guarantee until Russia voluntarily takes part in the reconstruction of Ukraine,» Reynders said in an interview with the Funke editorial group.
As the Belgian politician noted, it is possible that a fund for the restoration of the country will be established, but 300 billion euros will not be enough. «At the moment, the assets of 90 people have been frozen, over 17 billion euros in seven EU member states, including 2.2 billion euros in Germany,» he added.
On May 25, the European Commission presented a package of proposals for the possible confiscation of frozen Russian assets, as well as for the inclusion of sanctions violations in the list of criminal offenses in the European Union. As European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders later stated, the corresponding directive would be adopted in October, but so far, specific information on the timing of the adoption of the document has not been disclosed. According to the European Commissioner, after the adoption of the directive, an attempt to circumvent sanctions will be included in the list of criminal offenses throughout the European Union, which opens the way to the confiscation of the assets of Russian business. the legislative framework. According to the European Commission, the EU countries have already frozen more than 17.4 billion euros of Russian business assets.
Since the end of February, the EU countries have already introduced eight packages of sanctions against Russia because of the situation in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the policy of containment and weakening of Russia is a long-term strategy of the West, and the sanctions dealt a serious blow to the entire world economy. According to him, the main goal of the West is to worsen the lives of millions of people.