European Union Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders has estimated that the bloc’s sanctions against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine have resulted in the freezing of assets of Russian citizens worth more than 17 billion euros «We are talking about the assets of about 90 people, more than 17 billion euros blocked in seven member states, including about 2.2 billion in Germany,» explained the Belgian commissioner in statements to the media of the German news conglomerate Funke Group.
The EU has so far adopted eight sanctions packages against Russia since the February 24 invasion, while Ukrainian politicians have since insisted that this «frozen» money be redirected to post-war reconstruction in Ukraine.
In this regard, Reynders has estimated that this is a possibility as long as the money is proven to have originated from criminal activities.
«In that case, it is possible to channel it to a compensation fund for Ukraine», Reynders explained before clarifying that the frozen amount «is not nearly enough to finance a national reconstruction process».
Reynders also recalled that to this sum must be added the 300 billion euros in foreign exchange reserves of the Russian Central Bank, an amount that «at least it is possible to keep frozen as a guarantee that Russia is voluntarily committed to participate in the reconstruction process».
