MOSCOW

The head of a Russian business organization and former state official on Tuesday proposed using frozen Russian assets for rebuilding war-devastated Gaza.

Speaking at a news conference in Moscow, Alexander Shokhin, head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), said he asked Russia's presidential envoy for settling the Ukraine conflict Kirill Dmitriyev to convey his proposal – involving Russian funds frozen under Western sanctions – to the US side.

According to Shokhin, he has been suggesting this project "for some time."

"I even voiced it and asked to pass on the project for using frozen assets (to US presidential Envoy) Steve Witkoff," said Shokhin, who held a number of government positions in decades past.

Shokhin added that funds could be used for reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.

Although returns from this investment would be realized over many years, "it's better than losing these funds," he said.

"And the project could be global and international," he noted.

The Israeli army has killed nearly 71,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured over 171,000 others in attacks in Gaza since October 2023.