Published January 24, 2024
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced legislation Wednesday to allow the U.S. to seize frozen Russian assets to pay for Ukraine’s reconstruction.
The top Democrat and Republican on the panel were confident that Senate leadership viewed the legislation, called the REPO Act, as a priority for passage amid stalled efforts to deliver on further assistance for Ukraine.
“Leadership’s committed to move this as quickly as it can. It very well could be a caboose on a bill that goes through here quickly,” said Sen. James E. Risch (R-Idaho), the ranking member of the committee and sponsor of the REPO Act.
If signed into law, the legislation would mark the first time the U.S. has seized foreign assets of a country it is not at war with. Lawmakers said the Biden administration is supportive of the bill.
“They want to have this in their toolkit,” said Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), chair of the committee.
An administration official told The Hill that “Generally speaking, we are supportive of having domestic legislative authorities that will give us flexibility as we continue to discuss with partners and allies on how best to cease Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and ensure Russia pays for the damage it has caused.”
The official continued, “We are also engaged in active conversations with our allies and partners, including the [Group of Seven], to ensure we are all coordinated in making Russia pay.”
Cardin succeeded in passing his amendment to the bill in the committee meeting, an effort to address what he said are concerns around challenges in American courts to the U.S. government seizure of another foreign government’s assets and not draw out the process.
“I think it’s naive to think there won’t be legal challenges. … The amendment that I was able to get in will shorten any legal challenge,” Cardin said.
“What this allows, the administration to get those issues resolved early in the process and therefore can move forward with this tool. And it also gives our partners around the world confidence that we’re on a sound legal basis when we move forward.”
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SOURCE: www.thehill.com
RELATED: Zelensky calls for seized Russian billions to rebuild Ukraine
Published January 17, 2024
President Zelensky has called for some of the Russian billions seized by world banks to be sent to rebuild Ukraine.
The G7 group is considering taking only the rise in value and interest due since the assets were frozen in 2020.
But the Ukrainian president told the BBC all of the money should be used. “If the world has $300bn – why not use it?”, he said.
The BBC understands central bankers in Europe have concerns over undermining banks’ safe haven status.
Despite some enthusiasm from the US and UK governments, Europe’s central bankers have been far more sceptical about setting a difficult legal precedent that could undermine global financial stability. It could mean that other countries think twice about placing their safe haven assets in the West.
UK explores using frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine defence
Use frozen Russian money to rebuild Ukraine, says Bank boss
Belgium in particular happens to be home to a large portion of the frozen assets, due to its role in the clearing system for European reserves. It has already applied a charge to some funds raising €2bn for Ukraine. Proponents of the wider plan think tens of billions of dollars could be raised given some $360bn in frozen assets, and now high interest rates.
President Zelensky told the BBC on the margins of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that Western taxpayers should not foot the bill for the war in Ukraine.
He said: “We have $300bn [of] frozen Russian assets. They destroyed Ukraine…if we have $300bn of Russia assets we have to use them directly to rebuild what has been destroyed by Russian missiles… why does your society have to think how to help… If the world has $300bn, why not use it?”
President Zelensky met with Wall Street financiers at Davos including Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan and Steven Schwarzman of Blackstone.
Bill Winters, the boss of British bank Standard Chartered, said the global financial community’s response to seizing the profits of Russian frozen assets would be “mixed” amid fears of “weaponizing” central banks and currencies.
“We may say it is worth it to do the right thing which most of us would agree at a human level it’s the right thing. But I think central bankers have a right to be concerned,” he said.
“In the long run the US dollar plays such a central role that we do have to be careful about how we effectively weaponize it. It’s already been quite weaponised through the application of sanctions. This would be a further extension of that,” Winters told the BBC.
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SOURCE: www.thehill.com
RELATED: Putin’s war must not become ‘frozen,’ Zelensky warns as Ukraine’s troops face shortages of weaponry and aid
Zelensky told the World Economic Forum that Ukraine needed to be provided with more weapons to bring about a “just and stable” peace.
Published January 16, 2024
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a passionate plea to leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, urging them not to allow Russia’s war in Ukraine to become “frozen.”
Speaking in person at the conference for the first time since Russia launched its full-scale invasion nearly two years ago, Zelensky said Ukraine had defied expectations in repelling Moscow’s forces for so long and that its allies “know what’s needed” to allow “progress on the ground,” which has been in short supply for many months.
At the start of Zelensky’s address, which he delivered in English, he said he understood many in the audience would be asking difficult questions: “When will the war end? Is the third world war possible? Is it time to negotiate with Putin?”
Zelensky warned “any frozen conflict will eventually reignite,” pointing to how Russia renewed its aggression after “attempts to freeze the war in the Donbas” after 2014. Instead, he said Ukraine needed to be provided with more weapons to bring about a “just and stable” peace.
Putin’s war was less than a year old when Zelensky last spoke at Davos via a video link in January 2023. Ukraine had then recently liberated the cities of Kherson and Kharkiv, which had been occupied in the early weeks of the war, and Kyiv was beginning to prepare for a broader counteroffensive it hoped would yield greater gains still.
