US urges EU to confiscate Russian assets and return them after peace deal with Ukraine - CNN
Photo: US President Joe Biden (Getty Images)
The administration of current US President Joe Biden is trying to persuade European allies to confiscate about €300 billion of frozen Russian assets in the last days of his term. This could become a lever of pressure on Moscow, CNN reports.
As the news agency reports, ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration, the Biden administration is making a final attempt to seize Russian assets worth hundreds of billions of dollars to use them as future leverage in negotiations for a peaceful resolution to the war in Ukraine.
Biden's aides are likely working to convince European partners to support transferring around 300 billion dollars of Russian funds to a new escrow account that will only be unlocked as part of a peace agreement. These funds belong to the Russian Central Bank and were frozen three years ago after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
According to CNN, the aim of seizing these assets is to send a simple message to Moscow: "If you want your money back, you’re going to have to come talk."
It is reported that senior Biden officials have closely consulted with the national security team of newly elected President Donald Trump on this idea. In particular, with Senator Marco Rubio, who is appointed Secretary of State, and Republican Mike Waltz, who is vying for the position of National Security Advisor.
As CNN writes, Trump broadly supports this strategy, believing that the seized money could give Russia a new incentive to come to the negotiating table. However, the Europeans are less enthusiastic about the idea and express concerns about violating international law if banks fully confiscate Russian funds.
Frozen Russian assets
Ukraine has already started receiving funds under the Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration for Ukraine (ERA) program. This mechanism involves receiving $50 billion from G7 countries, with repayment to be made from the proceeds of using frozen Russian assets.
Additionally, we have reported that at the end of January 2024, EU ambassadors reached an agreement on using the profits from frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine.
At the same time, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed using the profits from Russian assets for weapons for Ukraine.
