The European Union should levy taxes on Russian imports not subject to sanctions, to help fund Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction, Prime Minister Kristen Michal (Reform) told POLITICO.
The bill to reconstruct Ukraine is likely to run into the hundreds of billions of euros, POLITICO reported, and Michal spoke to the publication on the sidelines of a two-day EU leaders’ summit in Cyprus, held to discuss geopolitics, security and the bloc’s budget.
“We need to tariff the goods from Russia to pay off the damages,” the prime minister said. “This has been the talk in different kinds of corridors [and] different meetings, that different kinds of tariffs on Russian goods could fund the reconstruction of Ukraine.”
Moscow “should be held responsible,” he added, noting that not doing so would run the risk of repeat aggression along the same lines.
The EU this week approved a €90 billion loan to help keep Kyiv afloat.
Michal also reiterated a call for Europe to update its visa regulations to ban Russian fighters from entering the bloc. Failure to do so runs the risk of these individuals, who he called “criminals,” going on to “wreak havoc in Europe once the Ukraine war is over.”
Tallinn hopes the European Commission will lead the massive logistical effort of blacklisting upwards of a million Russians, Michal added, noting Estonia’s High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas “is already dealing with it.”
Russian soldiers who have taken part in the war against Ukraine should not enter the Schengen area. This was my message to @euronews.
Estonia is already taking steps to ban this growing danger. A joint European effort must follow. https://t.co/tPkYL154zk
— Kristen Michal (@KristenMichalPM) April 24, 2026
While Europe has imposed sanctions, banned many Russian imports and imposed tariffs on grain and fertilizers, POLITICO noted, it has not yet hiked duties on permitted goods with the express goal of aiding Ukraine.
The concept of using EU trade policy for security purposes remains controversial, though at the same time, existing measures – such as utilizing the €210 billion in Moscow’s frozen assets, held in a Brussels-based financial depository – will still not be sufficient to cover the enormous bill that Russia’s invasion, now in its fifth year, has brought on Ukraine.
While hard to put a figure on, a study commissioned by the Ukrainian government, the United Nations, European Commission, and World Bank, published in February last year, found postwar reconstruction of Ukraine would cost €500 billion over a five-year period.
A full 13 percent of Ukraine’s housing stock had been destroyed in the first three years of the conflict, the same study found, with hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians killed or wounded and millions displaced since February 2022.
Estonia was among seven member states which last November called for tariffs on Russian products such as steel and fertilizer. However this has not been part of a 20th raft of sanctions on Russia agreed by the EU this week.
Michal was also one of eight leaders who last month addressed European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urging tighter visa rules.
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