A few hours after the chain reaction of European leaders to reject an alleged deployment of their troops in Ukraine, Von der Leyen reignited the controversy with the announcement of using Russia’s funds, an issue the West has so far avoided referring to in concrete terms.

‘I would like us to have broad thinking. The time has come to start talks on the use of interest from frozen Russian assets for the joint purchase of military equipment for Ukraine,’ the former German defense minister said.

Last Saturday was the second anniversary of the beginning of the war operation announced by President Vladimir Putin with the purpose of protecting the population of the uprising region of Donbas, as well as to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine.

After the beginning of that conflict, the European Union and the Group of Seven most industrialized countries froze 300 billion Euros, almost half of Russia’s foreign currency reserves, in Western banking institutions, local television recalled in this capital.

Some 200 billion euros are in European banks, mainly in the Belgian Euroclear, whose company said last October that it accumulated about three billion euros in interest on the blocked Russian accounts.

Moscow warned that, in case the aforementioned funds are used, it will respond with symmetrical measures in its country, where European investors also keep millions of dollars in Russian financial institutions.

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