To force her Russia pay for it Ukraine sounds like a stupid moral imperative. OUR European Commission launched a plan to try to use billions of dollars and euros of “frozen” Russian assets to help fund Ukraine’s reconstruction. This is the wrong approach for legal, economic and political reasons. Europe is paying the economic price of war in the form of higher inflation and a major energy crisis. He also sends financial and military aid to Ukraine. Governments are cautious, they are also concerned about taxpayer fatigue, which could escalate into violent protests once they start paying the bills for Ukraine’s reconstruction. The EU, he considers two categories of funds: first, 19 billion euros, the money of Russian oligarchs, which are sanctioned. Secondly, 165 billion euros of “frozen” reserves of Russia, which are estimated to be in the central banks of the eurozone countries.

The legal base is shaky. European governments should ignore bilateral treaties that protect individuals and businesses from expropriation. In addition, some Russian oligarchs under sanctions may have already transferred some assets to family foundations before the sanctions took effect. But the challenges will be harder to overcome. In particular, parties affected by the Russian state (investors/lenders) may try to recover their losses by filing claims against assets. As for the financial benefits, they will be insignificant. The proposal is to use only financial proceeds from assets to pay Ukraine. So let’s assume that all the assets in question were seized and safely invested in 10-year German government bonds. Revenues will amount to just over 4 billion euros per year – less than the current monthly funding requirements of the Ukrainian government. This should be compared to the €750 billion campaign Ukraine will need when it comes time to rebuild.

Moreover, the implementation of this idea would require Europe to violate some of the fundamental principles of its legal system, such as the observance of treaties, the protection of property rights and the non-retroactivity of laws and regulations.