“The US President Joe Biden’s administration, which will complete its work in less than a week, is allegedly convincing its European partners to support the withdrawal of frozen Russian money to a separate special account and make it a negotiating argument in favor of Ukraine.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
The administration of US President Joe Biden, which will complete its work in less than a week, is allegedly convincing its European partners to support the withdrawal of frozen Russian money to a separate special account and to make it a negotiating argument in favor of Ukraine.
Source: “European Truth,” CNN, citing two administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity
Details: Officials said that Biden’s advisers are allegedly convincing European partners to support the transfer of about 300 billion Russian assets to a new deposit account, from where they can be withdrawn only as part of a future peace agreement.
We are talking about the frozen funds of the Russian Central Bank, which are partly stored in the USA, but mainly in European banks.
Such a move could be a signal to the Kremlin that “if you want to get this money, you will have to negotiate,” shared one of the interlocutors.
Biden administration officials are also discussing the idea closely with Donald Trump’s team, including secretary of state nominee Marco Rubio and national security adviser nominee Mike Waltz.
They allegedly support the idea, believing that it will encourage Russia to agree to negotiations and help realize Trump’s intentions to “end the war quickly.”
At the same time, European capitals are cautious about such a proposal and are concerned that the confiscation of frozen Russian money will not comply with international law. The agreement to attract revenues from frozen assets to repay the G7 loan was already a difficult compromise for Ukraine.
CNN interlocutors say that European partners are still skeptical and therefore it is highly unlikely that this will happen before the leadership in the White House changes.
We will remind:
- In December, Ukraine received from the USA the first tranche of the planned $20 billion American contribution as part of a loan from the Group of Seven with the use of roactives, and last week – the first 3 billion euros from the European contribution.