Reuters quoted sources – preferred not to be named – as saying that Russia may agree to use 300 billion dollars in Europe’s frozen assets in Europe for reconstruction in Ukraine, but it will insist on spending part of the money on an area of 20% controlled by its forces.
Russia and the United States held the first talks to end the Ukraine war on February 18 in Saudi Arabia, and US President Donald Trump and Russian Vladimir Putin said they were hoping to meet soon.
After Putin sent forces in the Ukraine war in 2022, the United States and its allies banned transactions with the Russian Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance, which led to the blocking of 300 to 350 billion dollars of Russian sovereign assets, most of which are European, American, and British government bonds reserved in a European securities warehouse.
While discussions between Russia and the United States at a very early stage reported that 3 ideas in Moscow are that Russia may propose to use a large part of the frozen reserves to rebuild Ukraine as part of a possible peace agreement.
The cost of reconstruction
The war destroyed vast areas of eastern Ukraine, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers were killed or killed, while millions of Ukrainians fled to European countries or Russia.
A year ago, the World Bank estimated that reconstruction and recovery would cost $ 486 billion.
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It was not possible for Reuters to verify whether the idea of using frozen money was discussed between Russia and its American counterparts at the meeting in Saudi Arabia, while the Kremlin refused to comment.
The Russian Central Bank Governorate, Elvira Nabiolina, said on Thursday that the bank was not a party to any talks on the lifting of sanctions or the decoding of Russia’s reserves.
Earlier, Russia described plans to use funds in Ukraine as reaching the point of theft.
On Wednesday, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Line, announced that the European Union countries have reached a new agreement to impose the 16th sanctions package against Russia, which includes a ban on aluminum imports and tightening measures against the Russian shadow fleet.
Ukraine losses from the war
The direct losses – according to a study conducted by the Kiev Institute for Economics in cooperation with the National Bank and the relevant ministries – exceeded 88 billion dollars, but it does not take into account the extent of the damage to the infrastructure, housing, educational, medical, social services and others sectors.
As for the indirect losses – according to the institute – it exceeded the trillion dollar barrier expected by Parliament at the beginning of the war, as the end of last year amounted to 1.164 trillion dollars, of which 170 billion for infrastructure alone.
