European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen has stated that the EU should consider using profits from frozen Russian assets to buy military supplies for Ukraine.
In an address at the European parliament, von der Leyen said, “It is time to start a conversation about using the windfall profits of frozen Russian assets to jointly purchase military equipment for Ukraine.”
She added,“There could be no stronger symbol and no greater use for that money than to make Ukraine and all of Europe a safer place to live.”
Also, she noted that the threat of war for the EU “may not be imminent, but it is not impossible.”
“The risks of war should not be overblown, but they should be prepared for and that starts with the urgent need to rebuild, replenish, modernise member states’ armed forces.”
Ursula von der Leyen
In her speech, von der Leyen previewed a new European industrial defence strategy that her commission will present in the coming weeks.
She stressed that one of its main aims would be to prioritise joint procurement.
“Europe should strive to develop and manufacture the next generation of battle-winning operational capabilities,” she said.
“That means turbo-charging our defence industrial capacity in the next five years,” she added.
Moreover, she said that greater European efforts in defence would not diminish the need for the NATO alliance.
“In fact, a more sovereign Europe, in particular on defence, is vital to strengthening NATO,” she said.
European Lawmakers Told To Investigate Financial Flows Linked To Putin
Also at the European parliament, Yulia Navalnaya, wife of late Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, urged European politicians and officials to investigate financial flows in the west linked to Russian President, Vladimir Putin and his allies.
She called Putin the “leader of an organised criminal gang.”
“This includes poisoners and assassins but they’re just puppets,” she said, adding, “The most important thing is the people close to Putin – his friends, associates and keepers of mafia money.”
“You and all of us must fight the criminal gang. And the political innovation here is to apply the methods of fighting organised crime, not political competition. Not statements of concern but the search for mafia associates in your countries, for discreet lawyers and financiers who are helping Putin and his friends to hide money.”
Yulia Navalnaya
Additionally, Navalnaya told the European Parliament that Putin cannot be defeated through sanctions, saying, “You have to innovate.”
“You are not dealing with a politician but with a monster,” she asserted.
She stated that there are tens of millions of Russians who are against war, “against Putin, against the evil he brings.”
“We must not persecute them. On the contrary, you must work with them. With us,” she noted.
Navalnaya stated that Putin “must answer” for the war in “neighbouring, peaceful” Ukraine, as well as her husband’s death.
She said that Navalny had new ideas for everything, but especially in politics and in the struggle for the Russian opposition to forge itself as an opposition party but Putin has suppressed the opposition.
However, in spite of the Russian state repression, Navalny “was able to inspire millions of people with his ideas,” Navalnaya said.
She added that he managed to pass on ideas that “would make the Kremlin panic.”
“My husband will never see what a beautiful Russia of the future will look like, but we must see it,” Navalnaya told the European Parliament members, as she rounded off her address.
“I will do my best to make his dream come true. The evil will fall, and the beautiful future will come,” she declared.
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