The United States and Europe have wrestled for months with the question of how to pay for Ukraine’s reconstruction from the war.
As Russia pounds cities, factories and infrastructure in Ukraine, the estimated costs have swelled to $500 billion, with some experts citing numbers as high as $1 trillion.
One solution seemed brilliant in its simplicity: What better way to foot the bill, and to make a moral point, than to make Russia pay?
Experts warn that it would likely violate international law and potentially set a dangerous precedent for countries to take the assets of others.
The money once seemed easily within reach — since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, Western nations have frozen more than $330 billion in Russian Central Bank assets held abroad.
Organizations:
Russian Central Bank
Locations:
States, Europe, Russia, Ukraine, —