Moscow asked the western nations what happened to its frozen $200 billion after confiscation for its Ukraine incursion in February, but the US and EU cannot give a straight answer. According to Russian officials, the west has no right to it, and loss was suggested as outright theft.
Moscow Demands To See Its Frozen $200 Billion
Based on the assessment of Charles Lichfield, a senior finance expert at the Atlantic Council, the funds, according to them, are missing, reported Republic World.
A deputy director of the Washington-based think tank's GeoEconomics Center and an expert on the Moscow central banking system added that the EU and US would have acquired $80-$100 billion in Russian assets, not $300 billion, as widely reported in the American media.
Also, the bloc had locked in about $16.9 billion in addition to the freezing of preceding assets in the Central Bank of Russia's foreign exchange reserves all around the globe.
Based on the most recent remarks by EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders during an interview posted in France's La Monde, the figure grew from an estimated $13.8 billion obtained from oligarchs, and other entities declared frozen throughout July, mostly from five countries, noted Le Monde.
Daily, he informed several media outlets, including Funke and the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, that 90 Russians' investments had already been secured. An estimated $17 billion was appropriated from seven European countries, with Germany receiving $2.2 billion.
Brussels Wants Russian Money Invested
Last Tuesday, Lichfield stated that all Russian assets, like the frozen $200 billion seized due to western nations, will not be returned, and the Kremlin has something to say.
The west is threatening Moscow with a futile attempt to get all the dollars and euros to hobble its ability to transact. Even so, a few of the Asian and African banks might not have felt compelled to respond to inquiries from the Western governments concerned about financial transactions with Russia, he stated. The fraction of the frozen funds notwithstanding, it has now mysteriously disappeared after threats from those concerned.
The Russian outlet TASS reported a suggestion by European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen to make a new law or mechanism to seize and use all the frozen billions of Russia' legally'. Then use it to fix the damages in Ukraine.
An official stated that instead of using EU money to fix the war-torn country, they should use Russian money instead. It is Russia's fault that events caused the Donbas special operation and later gave arms to the AFU to prolong the conflict.
She added they should decriminalize what would be an illegal acquisition of frozen assets enshrined in law and never touched-using their priorities to construct a legal remedy, so they are not subject to liability for every unlawful act.
The Biden administration now proposes one more initiative to seize Russian assets legally called the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act bill. It will allow an asset to be given to the Volodymyr Zelensky government legally. But Russia called what Washington and Brussels are doing pure thievery, which they officialize.
Moscow cannot get a straight answer where the frozen $200 billion is, and western nations are acting nonchalantly, and what the UN is doing about this alleged breach of international law.
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