Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy leader, stated in an interview with the Financial Times that the EU should consider collecting frozen Russian foreign exchange holdings to help pay for the cost of reconstructing Ukraine after the conflict.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation,” the EU and its western allies have imposed restrictions on the central bank’s overseas reserves.

Borrell told the newspaper that the EU should do what the US did with Afghan central bank assets after the Taliban gained control of the Asian country.

“We have the money in our pockets, and someone has to explain to me why it is good for the Afghan money and not good for the Russian money,” Borrell added.

After the Taliban took control of the military, Washington froze the Afghan funds, intending to use part to help the Afghan people while retaining the rest to perhaps fulfil terrorism-related lawsuits against the Islamist militants.

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