The effect of the seizure of Russia's assets in the West will be much less than I wanted and necessary for Ukraine - Milov • The Insider • RIMA — Russian Independent Media Archive
Washington has not yet made the final decisions about the possible confiscation of the assets frozen in the West, the assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasia James O'Brien, commenting on the further fate of Russian avuars frozen in the west after full-scale invasion of Ukraine, said at online briefing for journalists. The official of the Bloomberg news agency was a briefing on the backdrop of the publication of the Bloomberg news agency, in which, as The Insider wrote , it was noted that the American administration supported the US Congress of the bill on the seizure of frozen assets of Russia.
“We will work on this with our partners (according to G7) and, of course, with Ukraine, determining the path forward,” said O'Brien. He added that at the last meeting of the G7, the leaders noted that Russia should pay for the damage caused in Ukraine, which the World Bank has already estimated at more than $ 400 billion.
In a conversation with The Insider , politician Vladimir Milov expressed the opinion that if the Western countries are in joint confiscation of assets, then the risks for Western currencies far -fetched. However, he noted that the effectiveness of such an exemption will be much less than necessary for the restoration of Ukraine:
“The topic about the confiscation of Russian assets has been extended for a very long time. There is a camp of opponents of such measures that scares the legal consequences and risks, but recently in the political leadership of the Western countries they are increasingly inclined to confiscate these assets. I don’t see big risks there. They are mainly scared by the fact that such actions against the assets of other central banks will reduce the attractiveness of Western currencies. But, sorry, there are no alternatives to Western currencies. More than 90% of world reserve currencies are a dollar, euro, Swiss franc, yen, Canadian and Australian dollar. Attempts to trade for the same Rupia and Yuan failed - these currencies are low -fluid, regulated by their governments and very poorly suitable for free international circulation. So there are no alternatives to Western currencies. If they [Western countries] in solidly performed on the confiscation of assets, then the risks for Western currencies far -fetched.
As for response measures, there are few Western assets available for confiscation in Russia. They are in the form of companies that have not yet left Russia. But in general, it must be said that almost all the companies that have assets in Russia reserved their value at losses, that is, they are trying to pull them out through the government commission, but, probably, they will not be released. In fact, the assets remaining in Russia have already been written off.
There is such a story that Russia will be in some third countries-in China, the UAE or Turkey-to file claims and try to confiscate any assets of Western countries. This is all, it seems to me, far -fetched and a pitchfork on the water is a written story. Here, Western countries have clear legal grounds, because there is a UN resolution of November 2022, which says that Russia's aggression is entitled to compensation for damage. Everyone is inclined to the fact that there is legitimate legal grounds in case Russia itself voluntarily does not want to compensate for the damage, namely the resolution of the General Assembly, which already identifies it as an aggressor obliged to compensate for the damage. Therefore, all legal grounds are here, this is only a matter of political decision.
I think that the West will be inclined to confiscate assets and this will be the more intensify, the more acute the question will be that there is no own money to the aid of Ukraine. Already now there are difficulties with the allocation of assistance, and on the other hand, the budget needs of Ukraine, including recovery, are very serious. Money is needed, but there is nowhere to take it. This will strengthen policies for a faster confiscation of these assets.
The situation is the one, and I have the feeling that the West is inclined to confiscate these assets. There is a figure of $ 300 billion, but it is a little blow. Most of this money are assets of the Central Bank, but they are not identified. They are known for the papers of the Central Bank, but it was much less possible to find real money on specific accounts. There are figures of $ 100 billion, not $ 300 billion. So the big figure, it seems to me, is a blow, and in order to find enough money to compensate for damage to Ukraine, it will be necessary to conduct an additional wanted list of Russian assets. They are, they can be found a lot, and it will be necessary to find the legal mechanism for equating oligarchic assets with the state, because the oligarchs are actually part of the Russian state machine. If they do not do this, they will not search and do not equalize the assets of the oligarchs with state ones - then there will be much less money than all the numbers that you hear in the news. There will be a lot of noise, but there is much less effect than we would like and what it is necessary for the restoration of Ukraine. ”
In a broad sense - assets, types of money, cash, securities (cash and non -cash money, checks, bills, transfers, letters of credit), due to which the obligations of their owners are made and repaid.
