BERLIN, May 13 (Reuters) – German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said he would be in favour of financing post-war reconstruction of Ukraine with seized Russian state assets, according to an interview published by Germany weekly Der Spiegel on Friday.
“In the case of Russian state’s assets, my sense of justice speaks in favour,” Lindner told Der Spiegel, but said that clarification of the legal basis for such a move was still needed.
“In the case of private assets, it would be a case of expropriation. The hurdles in our constitutional state are high,” he said.
The finance ministers of the Group of Seven industrialised nations (G7) are due to discuss the financing of Ukraine’s reconstruction at a meeting in Germany next week.
(Reporting by Maria Sheahan; Editing by Zuzanna Szymanska)
Photo – German Finance Minister Christian Lindner. EPA-EFE/FILIP SINGER
