The European Union has frozen more than 17 billion euros worth of Russian assets as part of sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, European Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders told the publication of the Belgian Funke Group, obtained by the dpa agency, on Saturday. , writes Agerpres

“Currently, the assets of 90 people, more than 17 billion euros in seven member states (of the European Union – editor’s note), including 2.2 billion in Germany, have been blocked,” said the European Commissioner.

The EU adopted eight packages of sanctions against Russia in the eight months since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, dpa reminds. Ukrainian politicians have repeatedly demanded that these assets be used to rebuild the country after the war.

In this regard, Reinders said that “if the money confiscated by the EU comes from criminal activities, it is possible that it will be directed to the compensation fund for Ukraine. However, this amount is far from sufficient to finance the reconstruction.”

He stated that as part of Western sanctions, the currency reserves of the Central Bank of Russia in the amount of 300 billion euros were also blocked. “From my point of view, these 300 billion can at least be kept as a guarantee that Russia will voluntarily contribute to the reconstruction of Ukraine,” the European official added.