European Commission President Proposes Use Of Frozen Russian Assets To Buy Ukrainian Military Supply

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. (Wikimedia Commons/European People's Party)

JAKARTA - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union should consider using profits from frozen Russian assets to buy military supplies for Ukraine.

"It's time to start talks about using unexpected profits from frozen Russian assets to jointly buy military equipment for Ukraine," he told the European Parliament on Wednesday.

"There is no symbol that is stronger and there is no greater use than that money, than to make Ukraine and the rest of Europe a safer place to live," he explained.

Furthermore, von der Leyen said the threat of war against the European Union "may not happen, but it is not impossible".

"The risk of war should not be exaggerated, but must be prepared and it begins with an urgent need to rebuild, replenish, modernize the armed forces of member countries," he said.

In his speech, von der Leyen reviewed the new European Industrial Defense Strategy that his commission will present in the coming weeks, saying that one of its main goals is to prioritize joint procurement.

"Europe must try to develop and produce operational capabilities of the next generation capable of winning the battle," he said.

"That means increasing the capacity of our defense industry in the next five years," he continued.

However, he said Europe's larger defense efforts would not reduce the need for the NATO alliance.

"In fact, Europe, which is more sovereign, particularly in the defense sector, is very important to strengthen NATO," he said.

In the middle of this month, Russian authorities again warned the West on Tuesday that Moscow would react firmly if the United States and the European Union seized hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Russian assets.

That after the European Union adopted a law to set aside unexpected profits obtained from Russia's frozen central bank assets, a concrete first step towards the bloc's goal of using the money to finance Ukraine's reconstruction.

"This is theft: This is a seizure of something that doesn't belong to you," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik radio.

Zakharova further said the response from Moscow would be "very harsh" because Russia felt they were basically dealing with thieves.

"Given that our country has qualified this as theft, our attitude is towards thieves," said Zakharova.

Russia has said that if its property is confiscated, it will confiscate US assets, Europe, and others in response. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said any attempt to seize Russian assets would pose legal challenges over the years from Russia.

"Of course, the Russian Federation will oppose the decision, we will protect our illegally confiscated interests and assets," Peskov stressed.

Late last year, Peskov warned Western countries they had a list of assets of the United States, Europe and others that would be confiscated, if G7 state leaders decided to continue and confiscate USD 300 billion in Russian central bank reserves.