Europe Could Seize $200 Billion in Russian Assets

Surprise!  As soon as America threatened to fold up our unlimited checkbook to finance the war in Ukraine, Europe decides to have some conversations to take frozen Russian assets to fund the war!  Interesting how necessity is the mother of invention.

Also, it’s being mentioned that Russia might willingly give up those assets to pay for the Ukrainian territory that it wants to annex and could include territory that Russia has already taken in war.

Imagine how different things could have been had Biden and DFL not been running the country when Russia decided it had to invade.  They warned time and time again that they will not allow NATO into Ukraine.  They want parts of Ukraine that speak Russian and feel more akin to Russia.  So maybe a deal is worked out and Russia buys some territory from Ukraine and the war never starts!  I’ve seen estimates of $500 billion to try and rebuild Ukraine.  Who has that money?  Just imagine if Trump could have brokered a deal before Putin invaded?  The money saved by all parties involved would be hard to count.

I have no doubt Putin is a bad man with a dark soul.  I also have no doubt that he told Europe that his red line was Ukraine joining NATO, and Europe just kept pushing Putin’s button.

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Europe’s leaders to the East are piling pressure on the EU to release hundreds of billions of dollars worth of frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s war effort as relations with the U.S. deteriorate.

Leaders from Poland, Estonia, and Finland have in the last week added to growing calls to liquidate Russian central bank reserves, which have been valued between $200 billion and $300 billion. 

Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, posted on X last week: “Enough talking, it’s time to act! Let’s finance our aid for Ukraine from the Russian frozen assets.”

In a televised address to the nation on Monday, Czechia Prime Minister Petr Fiala followed suit.

"For further military support of Ukraine, we must use money from frozen Russian assets from across the entire Europe," he said, adding that Trump had “decided to completely transform” U.S. foreign policy.

“The speed, thrust, and rhetoric are certainly surprising, but the shift of the United States away from focusing on Europe should not surprise us," said Fiala.

Estonia’s foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna, told Reuters: "The decision to use the windfall profits was a step in the right direction. I see that the time is ripe now to take the next step."

In February last year, former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen marked herself out as an early advocate of liquidating the hundreds of billions of dollars in seized Russian assets.

 “I believe there is a strong international law, economic, and moral case for moving forward. This would be a decisive response to Russia’s unprecedented threat to global stability,” Yellen said.

The latest calls have, however, highlighted a divide in the EU. 

Germany, France, Italy, and the European Commission have resisted calls to unlock the funds for their own use. The opposition comes from a fear that the seizure of free market assets would alarm international investors and hurt Europe’s legitimacy in the long run.

Instead, these countries prefer to view the frozen reserves as a strong bargaining tool in negotiations with Russia, a point French President Emmanuel Macron repeated during a conversation with Trump this week.

Some in the Russian administration are reportedly ready to part ways with its reserves, provided the territories by the country stay after the war, with some even suggesting the reserves are used toward payment for this territory.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/enough-is-enough-europe-s-leaders-are-piling-pressure-on-the-eu-to-release-200-billion-of-frozen-russian-assets-to-fund-ukraine/ar-AA1zKvTf