MOSCOW, October 5. /TASS/. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, as well as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas have a financial interest in prolonging the conflict in Ukraine, Russian State Duma lawmaker Alexander Borodai stated.

"Current European politicians - Merz, Macron, and representatives of the European bureaucracy such as Ursula von der Leyen and Kaja Kallas - are very likely financially interested in keeping the war in Ukraine going," Borodai, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration, and Relations with Compatriots, said. "All of these figures will most likely lose their current posts. But they will end up with a considerable fortune, most likely a massive one, from kickbacks from EU budgets that they funneled toward Ukraine," the lawmaker noted.

According to him, even if new leaders take office in European countries and set a new course, it will be difficult to reverse the decisions already made.

"The decisions they made will remain in place. Any bureaucratic authority consists of certain institutions and decisions that are very difficult to reverse because they require specific procedures," Borodai pointed out. "It's difficult to reverse what predecessors adopted, at least not immediately. So, of course, there will be changes, but they won't be rapid; they'll be gradual," he concluded.