Talking Europe hosts one the EU's most hawkish voices on Russia, Urmas Paet, who was Estonia’s foreign minister from 2005 to 2014. He is now an MEP and vice-president of the foreign affairs committee in the European Parliament. Paet outlines his hopes for a stronger EU defence capability and for more transparency on frozen Russian assets, as well as accountability for alleged war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine.

Asked about the pushback by some EU countries against the European Commission's proposals to map Russian assets, he says: "I guess the reasons are more political than technical. I don’t understand why there are some governments and countries in Europe that are still sceptical. I hope that in the very near future we can at least get data from each member state on what kind of Russian assets have been frozen."

Asked how the frozen assets might be used, Paet says: "I really urge politicians in member states and also officials in the EU Commission to work very hard to lay down a legal framework. The damage in Ukraine is more than €7 billion. I can't imagine that Russia will get all its frozen money back, and that EU taxpayers end up having to pay for rebuilding Ukraine while the aggressor country does nothing."

Programme produced by Sophie Samaille, Isabelle Romero and Perrine Desplats

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