In response to the words of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz that Moscow should pay Ukraine 500 billion euros in compensation for losses, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova proposed to calculate who owes Russia and how much, starting with the Western intervention of 1918-1922.
„I think it might be time to calculate how much everyone owes? We can start with the Western intervention of 1918-1922,” she wrote on her Telegram channel. Then Zakharova proposed to balance the bill for World War II, including compensation for the liberation and reconstruction of Europe. She added that the collapse of the USSR “was not cheap.” According to Zakharova, Western representatives have long admitted that they were involved in this, so there is every reason to “take out the calculator.” By the way, Merz can pay for the restoration of the masterpieces of the Dresden Gallery by Soviet specialists, ”concluded Zakharova. After the start of hostilities in Ukraine, the EU and the G7 countries froze almost half of Russia’s foreign exchange reserves, approximately 300 billion euros. More than 200 billion euros are in the European Union, mostly in the accounts of Belgium's Euroclear, one of the world's largest clearing and settlement systems. Moscow has repeatedly called the actions of Western countries theft, noting that the EU is targeting not only the funds of individuals but also Russia's state assets. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow would respond to the confiscation of frozen Russian assets by the West. According to him, Russia may also not return funds that Western countries have kept in the country.