By Jan Strupczewski

BRUSSELS (Reuters). – Lithuania will, Slovakia, Latvia, Estonia and Estonia will request on Tuesday the confiscation Russian assets that have been frozen by the European Union in order to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine. The four nations sent a letter on Monday.

The amount needed to rebuild Ukraine from Russia’s destruction was estimated at $600 billion by Ukraine on May 3. However, with war in full swing, it is possible that this sum will have risen dramatically, according to the letter.

Russia should cover substantial costs associated with rebuilding Ukraine.

Reuters also saw the letter and it calls on 27 nations to prepare new sanctions against Moscow.

“Ultimately, if Russia does not stop the military aggression against Ukraine, there should be no economic ties remaining between EU and Russia at all – ensuring that none of our financial resources, products or services contributes to Russia’s war machine,” it said.

Four countries mentioned that both the EU as well as similar countries had already frozen assets of Russian entities and individuals, and about $300 billion in central bank reserves.

“We must now identify legal ways to maximise the use of these resources as a source of funding – for both the costs of Ukraine’s continued efforts to withstand the Russian aggression, and for the post-war reconstruction of the country,” they said.

Confiscation is a means of removing state assets such as the central bank reserve or properties of state-owned companies.

Last Wednesday, the European Commission stated that it would examine whether it is possible to seize Russian assets frozen to finance Ukraine. However, it did not include central bank reserves. Multiple EU officials warned that asset confiscation is difficult because of the lack of appropriate EU laws.

According to the countries, “In situations where it is impossible to identify legal avenues for confiscating assets, the asset should be used as leverage. It will be released once Russia has compensated Ukraine all of the damage done.”

Russia describes its actions against Ukraine as “special operations”, which it claims is not intended to occupy the territory, but destroy the military capabilities of its south neighbour and capture what it considers dangerous nationalists.