According to him, the confiscation of Russian means will lead to the destruction of the global financial system and the creation of new calculated tools.
“As we all know well, this is not a secret, the significant amount of our gold and foreign exchange reserves is frozen in Western banks. And there they constantly say that our money is going to steal. As soon as this happens, the movement towards the regionalization of payment systems will certainly accelerate and acquire, without any doubt, irreversible character. And this is generally useful for the global economy. Maybe it is worth paying for it,” he said.
Putin also stated that the intentions of the Western governments to confiscate the funds of the Russian Federation for an unleashed war in Ukraine are not “theft”, because “the theft is a secret abduction of property, and this [возможная конфискация российских активов] – Open, this is robbery. “
Context
After a full-scale invasion of the country of the Russian Federation to Ukraine of the Western countries About $ 300 billion assets of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation were frozen. Some of them are stored in the EU countries (it is believed that approximately $ 190 billion is stored in the EuroClear depository in Belgium), and part in the USA.
For about a year, the allies of Ukraine discussed the possibility of using frozen assets to restore the country after the war. However, without coming to an agreement, the countries of the G7 agreed Use interest accumulated from frozen funds (approximately $ 50 billion every year) as a loan for Ukraine.
January 14, 2025 CNN TV channel with reference to unnamed officials from the administration at that time of US President Joe Biden reported that the United States Trying to convince allies to withdraw about $ 300 billion frozen Russian assets in the account of conditional storage (escrow account). Money on it can be used only if a peace agreement is reached between Ukraine and Russia.
France and Germany are discussing the possibility of arrest of Russian assets in the amount of € 200 billion, If Moscow violates the planned ceasefire in Ukraine, the Financial Times wrote on March 3.
On March 21, Radio Freedom, citing a source in diplomatic circles, reported that the EU leaders did not abandon the idea of confiscating frozen Russian assets, which is indicated in the final declaration of the summit of diplomats.
June 13, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmygal said that Ukraine received € 1 billion from the European Union From income, obtained from frozen assets of the Russian Federation. The same amount frozen assets of the Central Bank of Russia Kyiv received from the EU in May.
