SPAIN has thrown its weight behind plans to find innovative ways of using frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine’s reconstruction through ‘reparation loans’. Russia maintains around €200 billion worth of funds in Belgium’s Euroclear depository, which were immediately frozen when Vladimir Putin gave the order to invade Ukraine. These assets could potentially be redirected to support reconstruction efforts in the war-torn country. While the United States is pressuring the EU to use Russian assets to finance Ukrainian defence, countries including Germany, Belgium and France have blocked the move, citing doubts about the legality of such measures. “We’ll analyse the specific proposal but in principle it seems like a very good idea to us,” he added.