The United States, United Kingdom, Japan and Canada have proposed that other G7 countries prepare plans to confiscate Russian assets. In the West, Russian central bank assets worth 260 billion euros have been frozen, the partial or total transfer of which to Ukraine has long been under discussion.
According to the plans proposed by the four countries, the G7 should create three working groups to study the legal basis of confiscation, the actual methods and risks of confiscation, and the best possible transfer of confiscated assets to Ukraine.
Although an official decision in favor of asset confiscation has not yet been made, Washington believes that timely preparation of plans will allow, in the event of a positive decision, their rapid implementation.
The next meeting of G7 heads of state will take place at the end of February and the group’s goal is to agree on concrete measures to help Ukraine by February 24, the second anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion.
According to the Financial Times, finance ministers and G7 ministries are discussing the confiscation of Russian assets.
However, Germany, France, Italy and the European Union are so far cautious about asset confiscation. Several European ministers underlined the need to maintain the secrecy of the discussions and the importance of a thorough examination of the legal details.
European countries such as Italy, which will take over the G7 presidency from Japan next year, fear possible Russian retaliation. Rome fears for the future of its companies operating in Russia, and Moscow has already said it would consider severing diplomatic relations with the United States if assets were seized.
There are several options for confiscation of assets: total confiscation of assets, confiscation of interest accrued on assets and use of assets as collateral for loans to Ukraine.
Although the United States has not yet publicly called for the seizure of Russian assets, officials in Washington have sent a document to their G7 counterparts arguing that the seizure of the assets would be a perfectly legitimate and legally correct response to a war of Russian aggression.
The EU, which holds the lion’s share of frozen Russian assets, has so far only discussed confiscation of interest earned on the assets. In total, three billion euros in interest income have been earned this year from Russian assets frozen in the Belgian clearinghouse Euroclear alone.
However, the EU, the UK and France stress that the confiscation will not immediately release the money, that it will not be enough to compensate for the damage caused by the war in Ukraine and that the confiscation of assets should not be seen as a substitute for other aid packages for Ukraine.
At the same time, it was the failure of the US Congress and the EU to pass aid packages to Ukraine in December due to opposition from US Republicans and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban respectively, that caused the discussions to intensify on confiscation. .
Furthermore, confiscating Russian assets would send a signal to the Kremlin that Western interest in helping Ukraine will not disappear anytime soon.
In the past, the G7 countries have managed to overcome their differences on the Russian issue, both by approving the first large package of sanctions and by establishing a maximum price for Russian oil.
2023-12-28 06:59:00
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