US Treasury Secretary calls for transferring $300 billion of Russian assets to Ukraine
Photo: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen (Getty Images)
The world's largest advanced economies should urgently find a way to use frozen Russian assets to help strengthen Ukraine's defense against Russian invasion and long-term recovery from war, according to US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
"I believe there is a strong international law, economic and moral case for moving forward," Yellen says in a statement prepared ahead of the G20 financial leaders meeting in São Paulo, Brazil.
"This would be a decisive response to Russia’s unprecedented threat to global stability," according to her.
"It would make clear that Russia cannot win by prolonging the war and would incentivize it to come to the table to negotiate a just peace with Ukraine," the US Treasury Secretary adds.
Russian assets confiscation in favor of Ukraine
The United States, the European Union, and other G7 countries are considering how best to use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine.
At the end of 2023, the United States proposed that the G7 countries confiscate $300 billion in frozen Russian assets in favor of Ukraine. The initiative was supposed to be approved by February 24, 2024.
However, the G7 statement says that the assets of the Russian central bank will remain frozen until Moscow agrees to compensate for the damage it has caused to Ukraine.
The World Bank estimates that Ukraine's economic losses from the Russian invasion amount to $499 billion.
