“We need to tariff the goods from Russia to pay off the damages,” he said. “This has been the talk in different kinds of corridors [and] different meetings, that different kinds of tariffs on Russian goods could fund the reconstruction of Ukraine.”
Seven countries, including Estonia, called for tariffs on Russian products such as steel and fertilizer last November, but the push has stalled and was not part of a 20th sanctions package agreed by the EU this week.
Michal argued that even the €210 billion in Moscow’s frozen assets, held in a Brussels-based financial depository, would not be enough to cover the gigantic bill.
The full financial cost of Russia’s four-year-old invasion of Ukraine, which has killed or wounded hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, displaced millions more and razed cities to the ground, is difficult to calculate.
But a study commissioned by the Ukrainian government, the United Nations, European Commission, and World Bank, published in February last year, found it would cost €500 billion over a decade to rebuild Ukraine. The study also found that 13 percent of Ukraine’s housing stock had been destroyed in the first three years of the conflict.
“They should be held responsible,” Michal said, referring to Moscow. “Because if they are not held responsible, then this will repeat. We [Estonia] have a longer history with Russia. We know what Russia is. We gained our independence not so long [ago].”