Frozen RF assets don't compensate Ukrainian losses - Economic Advisor to President
Confiscated assets of state-owned companies and funds from the central bank of Russia by Western countries will not be able to fully cover the losses inflicted on Ukraine, states the Economic Advisor to Ukrainian President, Oleh Ustenko.
"We are talking about approximately 750 billion dollars, if we are discussing direct losses. If we add indirect losses, the figure will increase to 1 trillion," added the official.
According to Ustenko, even the assets that are currently frozen will not be able to cover all the losses inflicted by Russia on Ukraine.
Confiscation of Russian assets
It is worth noting that the issue of confiscating Russian assets in favor of Ukraine becomes more relevant due to the absence of new assistance from the United States.
Since the beginning of the war, Western countries have frozen approximately $750 billion of Russian assets.
On February 28, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, called on the EU to discuss using the proceeds from frozen Russian assets for joint purchases of military equipment for Ukraine.
She emphasized that "there can be no stronger symbol and no greater use for this money than to make Ukraine and the whole of Europe a safer place to live."
Furthermore, on Thursday, March 7, the Ukrainian government held a meeting regarding the confiscation of Russian assets amounting to €300 billion.
In addition, the Council of Cantons in Switzerland supported the idea of transferring confiscated Russian assets to Ukraine. The parliament's decision empowers the government to create an international legal basis for using the assets of aggressor states to pay reparations to affected countries. The government will develop an initiative that involves the legal transfer of frozen funds from the aggressor's central bank to the country that was attacked.
Switzerland's Federal Councillor for Foreign Affairs, Ignazio Cassis, emphasized that Russia must compensate for the inflicted losses, and the country is participating in international discussions on compensation mechanisms. Switzerland holds over $8 billion in reserves and assets of the Russian central bank.