210 billion in Europe alone: ​​G7 discusses "advance" for Ukraine's assets, - FT

The Union countries are thinking about arresting Moscow's frozen funds and using them to assist Ukraine. According to the media, the US supports this idea. G7 allies discuss the allocation of frozen funds of the Russian Federation in support of Ukraine. This is stated in Financial Times dated December 20. According to the publication, Western countries and the US are looking for ways to "justify" the arrest of assets of aggressor countries.

This idea has gained popularity in recent weeks, but has been "big controversy". Journalists received access to the documents of the European Commission on the assets of the Russian Federation for the last year. They amounted to approximately 260 billion euros and were in G7 and EU countries, as well as in Australia.

"The main part of this - approximately 210 billion euros - is stored in the EU, including cash and government bonds, denominated in euros, dollars and other currencies," the material said. The main part of "European" assets is stored in Europeanar - Belgian depository. According to the media, it is about about 191 billion euros. The second largest amount is in France - approximately 19 billion euros. Germany owns only about 210 million euros.

In the US, much less Russian assets are frozen than in Europe. There are about $ 5 billion. The US publicly does not support the confiscation of frozen assets. However, according to the publication, Washington privately supported this idea. In particular, unnamed US officials have called the use of frozen funds of the Russian Federation "counter -commodity", which is not prohibited by international law and is able to "stop its aggression" Moscow.

It is proposed to perceive the arrest of assets as an "advance", because in the end Russia will be obliged to pay Ukraine reparations from its own pocket. At the same time, opponents of such a step believe that it will undermine the trust of other countries. In their view, countries such as China and Saudi Arabia will not assume that their reserves in other countries are safe.

"Officials seek consensus among G7 countries on asset arrest, but France, Germany and Italy remain extremely cautious," journalists reported. In Europe, they are afraid that Russia is avenging. Therefore, instead of confiscation in the EU, they develop a plan on how to pick up extraordinary revenue. Last year alone, Europear earned about 3 billion euros. However, even this "more cautious" proposal, not all. Some countries are afraid of the consequences of even this step.