Why Russia Must Pay for the Damage it Has Done to Ukraine – and How to Ensure it Does

Summary:

The West should make it possible for Ukraine to use frozen Russian assets which are now held in Western jurisdictions to rebuild – $330 billion in Russian central bank assets and perhaps (who knows?) $70-100 billion more in yachts, villas and the bank accounts of oligarchs and sanctioned Russian companies. Ukraine will need help to be economically strong enough to sustain its own defence – protecting its Western neighbours in the process. The project of enabling Ukraine to win the war and the peace is a strategic priority and a public good for the West. Failure to fund Ukraine’s reconstruction would mean economic, social and political instability in a country with Europe’s largest army; the prospect of millions more Ukrainian migrants in Europe; and the need for Western governments to increase defence spending massively in the face of a newly confident and even more aggressive Russia. The West has no choice but to rebuild Ukraine, however it funds the work. But if Putin has to pay for it, so much the better.

• Primary Source

• Alternative Source

ESO Records

CER Insight: July 2022: First Help Ukraine Win the War. Then Help it Win the Peace https://www.europeansources.info/record/first-help-ukraine-win-the-war-then-help-it-win-the-peace/

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