Ukraine has proposed to Western countries to introduce a special duty on Russian goods, the proceeds of which will be channeled to the country’s post-war reconstruction fund, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal has said. “This is an economic mechanism of reparations, which allows us to act without waiting for political changes in Russia,” Shmygal wrote in his Telegram channel after the visit of the Ukrainian delegation to the United States. He also noted that Kyiv has already been guaranteed $50 billion in profits from frozen Russian assets, but the Ukrainian authorities intend to insist on “full confiscation” of the blocked funds.
Ukraine does not receive income from Russia’s assets directly: the European Union has granted Kyiv a loan to be repaid from the profits of Russian funds held in Western depositories. At the same time, the bulk of the Russian Central Bank’s assets are frozen in the Belgian Euroclear. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov estimated the total amount that was blocked after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army at $300 billion. The Kremlin warned that the confiscation of these funds would be regarded as theft, and also threatened to turn to the courts if the West took such a step. Against this background, the EU countries have not yet reached a consensus on the seizure of Russian assets.
