The European Union (EU) should consider using Russian foreign exchange reserves, which run to billions of dollars, to help rebuild Ukraine, top diplomat Josep Borrell said in an interview with Financial Times on Monday. 

The bloc’s High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy replied to questions if frozen Russian reserves could help finance rebuilding Ukraine.

“I would be very much in favour because it is full of logic”, he said, continuing, “We have the money in our pockets, and someone has to explain to me why it is good for the Afghan money and not good for the Russian money”. 

Also Read | Musk jokes of being killed amid Russian charges of helping Nazi Ukrainians

This refers to the decision taken by the US government to use $7 million worth of frozen assets from Afghanistan’s central bank and provide humanitarian aid to the people in the country, and compensate them for being victims of terrorism since the Taliban seized power. 

After Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, Western countries have frozen nearly $315 billion of Russia’s foreign exchange reserves as pushback. Since then, there have been debates among EU officials on how to deploy these funds to aid Ukraine. However, there have been no concrete proposals yet. 

Also Read | Does Russia’s drive to ‘denazify’ Ukraine veer close to antisemitism?

Russia’s Central Bank, at one time, had threatened legal action against the US and the EU, to get it to unfreeze its gold and foreign reserves. While the initial steps taken by western nations included hurting Russia economically, the more recent aid packages to Ukraine show greater aggression. 

The nature of military aid has changed, reflecting a shifting goal that Ukraine is no longer to be merely defended, Russia is to be defeated. 

Meanwhile, Moscow has kept up its “special military operations” for months, despite the nation’s economy feeling the weight of international sanctions and reeling from trade restrictions.