By Casey Michel
For months, the West has fretted over the prospect of paying for UkraineтАЩs reconstruction. RussiaтАЩs war has inflicted an estimated $400 billion in rebuilding costs, a tally that rises every day. Western leaders, already alarmed by inflation and the threat of recession, have understandably blanched over the bill.
But many of them are disregarding a solution that would cover most of UkraineтАЩs costs and help deter future aggression not only from Russia but from dictatorships around the world. A year ago, Western governments froze some $300 billion in state assets from RussiaтАЩs central bank. Now they could seize the funds and give them to Ukraine.
The biggest question is whether this would be legal. As critics have noted, a seizure of this magnitude has never been attempted. Moreover, little precedent exists for the United States to confiscate the assets of a nation with whom (despite the KremlinтАЩs claims to the contrary) it isnтАЩt at war.
But Russia has unleashed a kind of rank imperialism the world has rarely seen since the Cold War, committing war crimes andтАФas manifold evidence suggestsтАФgenocide, all against a harmless neighbor. Because of its unjustifiable aggression and atrocities, Moscow has forfeited any moral right to funds stashed abroad.
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