"The aggressor must pay". Estonian Foreign Minister explains why it is necessary to use Russian assets

Estonia is in favor of granting Ukraine a loan of 200 billion euros, which will be guaranteed by frozen Russian assets. Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsakhkna told journalists about this before a meeting of the General Affairs Council in Luxembourg, the correspondent reports. LIGA.net .

According to him, Estonia has been promoting this topic for three years, and while six months ago no one wanted to talk about it, now there is a proposal from the European Commission.

"The aggressor must pay. It is becoming more and more difficult to explain to our taxpayers why we are using our money, our taxpayers' money, when instead we have a 'Russian brain' that is aggressive against Ukraine and violates all standards and legal norms," Tsakhkna told reporters.

According to Estonian official, there is now political will to use frozen Russian assets, only a legal scheme is needed to achieve the desired result.

Asked by a journalist how high are the chances that Belgium will give the green light to start working with Russian money, Tsakhkna said he hopes this will happen at the first stage, although it takes a long time, because "the devil is in the details.".

"We will find a way to get this loan using the frozen Russian assets, but also, as you remember, we are already using them as guarantees for the G7 and the European Union," the Estonian minister emphasized .

He also expects the United Kingdom, Norway, Japan, Australia, and the United States to join in, as they need to jointly support Ukraine at the military level and in terms of investment for recovery.

• on October 15, it became known that Britain and Canada are working on a mechanism to lend Kyiv almost $300 billion in frozen funds from Moscow.

• On October 23, EU leaders will consider the issue of a "reparations loan" for Ukraine at the EU summit.
• Thanks to the "reparations loan," Ukraine will be able to receive 45 billion euros annually for the next three years – from 2026 to 2028, polish Deputy Foreign Minister says.