Speaking to reporters at the Ukraine Accountability Conference in The Hague, the Dutch official said that the EU was ready to create a legal framework for seizing Russian assets if their link to criminality was established.
The European Commission has been asked to broaden the scope of crimes that permit confiscation, Reynders said. It will set up an EU-wide fund to store the seized assets before sending the money to Ukraine, he explained.
The EU said in June it had "immobilized" about $300 billion worth of Russian central bank assets. Reynders said on Thursday that a total of 13.8 billion euros ($13.8 billion) worth of assets belonging to sanctioned Russian individuals and entities had been frozen since the military operation began.