Senior European Union officials told the media that the EU may use the frozen Russian foreign exchange assets for the reconstruction of Ukraine. Russia criticized this idea on the 9th as "lawless". On the 9th, the Financial Times quoted Josep Borrelli, the EU high representative for foreign and security policy, as saying that the funds needed to rebuild Ukraine are "unbelievable", most of which may come from the EU. On the source of these funds, Borrell proposed that Russia's foreign exchange assets frozen by the EU could be used. "We have money in our pockets. Can anyone explain to us why Afghan money can (do this) and Russian money can't?" This approach is similar to what the US government has done. The US government froze the foreign exchange reserves of the Afghan central bank in the United States after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan last year, with a total amount of about US $7 billion. In February this year, US President Joseph Biden ordered that half of the frozen assets be used to compensate the victims of the September 11 incident, and the other half be transferred to an account of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to help the "Afghan people" and will not be returned to the Taliban. Biden said in April that he intended to strengthen the law enforcement capacity of the United States to confiscate the assets of Russian businessmen in the form of legislation, and use the funds from the sale of these assets to support Ukraine. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said last week that the reconstruction of damaged infrastructure and houses is expected to cost about $600 billion and needs the strategic support of the international community, just like the "contemporary version of the Marshall Plan". Some experts warned that it was illegal for the west to treat frozen Russian assets in this way. In an interview with the Russian satellite news agency on the 9th, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said that Borrell's idea was "completely lawless and destroyed the foundation of international relations". Grushko warned that if the EU did so, it would "lift a stone and hit itself in the foot, destroy the modern financial system and damage the credit of Europe and even the whole west". As a counterattack to Western sanctions, Russia asked unfriendly countries and regions to settle the natural gas imported from Russia in rubles. Vyacheslav volokin, President of the Russian State Duma, also proposed that commodities settled in rubles should be expanded to crude oil, grains, metals, chemical fertilizers, coal and timber; The commercial assets of unfriendly countries in Russia should be confiscated and "let them suffer their own consequences". (Xinhua News Agency)