{"id":1828,"date":"2025-02-03T10:10:41","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T11:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/?p=1828"},"modified":"2025-02-03T12:54:13","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T12:54:13","slug":"ukraine-renews-efforts-to-seize-russian-assets-wapo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/ukraine-renews-efforts-to-seize-russian-assets-wapo\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine renews efforts to seize Russian assets \u2013 WaPo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kiev reportedly hopes to persuade Washington to back the move by suggesting the money be used to pay for US weapons<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ukraine has renewed its push to confiscate frozen Russian assets following Donald Trump\u2019s reelection as US president, the Washington Post reported on Friday, citing anonymous officials. Kiev hopes Trump\u2019s business acumen and influence over the EU could sway opponents of the move toward supporting it, the newspaper claimed.<\/p>\n

After the Ukraine conflict escalated in February 2022, Western states froze an estimated $300 billion belonging to the Russian central bank held in foreign depositories, a move Russia has branded as theft.<\/p>\n

While proceeds from the assets are already being used to back a $50 billion loan for Ukraine from the G7, most Western nations have stopped short of seizing the assets themselves. Opponents of the move, including Belgium, Germany, and France, fear it could set a legal precedent and undermine trust in the Western banking system.<\/p>\n

According to the Washington Post, Ukrainian officials believe Trump could persuade skeptical countries if he sees the move as beneficial for the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe firmly believe that it\u2019s President Trump who can be a change maker,\u201d<\/em> Irina Mudra, deputy head of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky\u2019 office, told the news outlet.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Trump] has the power to change the stance of more-skeptical countries\u2026 they know he\u2019s not joking, that his are not just hollow words. That\u2019s exactly why we need his help convincing our partners that transferring Russian assets is a necessary tool to finish this war,\u201d<\/em> she added.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"British
Kiev given green light to spend UK loan backed by \u2018stolen\u2019 Russian assets<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Kiev plans to frame the seizure of Russian assets as an alternative source of funding for weapons and reconstruction. Zelensky claimed in an interview with podcaster Lex Fridman that he had \u201cspoken to Trump\u201d<\/em> about using the money to buy US-made arms.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told him, take the $300 billion of frozen Russian assets\u2026 and we will buy all the weapons from the US\u2026 It will be very good for your industry,\u201d<\/em> Zelensky said, describing it as one of Ukraine\u2019s key security guarantees for future peace talks with Moscow.<\/p>\n

Analysts suggest the proposal may appeal to Trump, given his \u2018America First\u2019 stance and calls to cut foreign aid.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a very clear quid pro quo. And they would love for Trump to adopt that argument and basically say to the Europeans, \u2018Look, if you want me to continue to supply Ukraine with weapons, well, let\u2019s buy them with Russian assets,\u2019\u201d<\/em> Jacob Kirkegaard of the Peterson Institute for International Economics told the news outlet.<\/p>\n

\n
\n READ MORE: <\/span>Euroclear boss issues new warning against West seizing Russian assets
\n <\/a>\n <\/p>\n

Former US President Joe Biden\u2019s administration previously expressed cautious support for the idea, but Trump\u2019s stance remains unclear. Some EU countries reportedly prefer to keep the assets frozen as potential leverage in future peace negotiations with Moscow.<\/p>\n

Russia has repeatedly condemned the freezing of its assets. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned in December that Moscow would pursue legal action against any attempts to channel the funds \u201cstolen\u201d<\/em> from the country to Ukraine. Russian officials also warned Moscow could mirror the West\u2019s actions by tapping income from frozen Western assets held in the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kiev reportedly hopes to persuade Washington to back the move by suggesting the money be used to pay for US weapons Ukraine has renewed its push to confiscate frozen Russian assets following Donald Trump\u2019s reelection as US president, the Washington Post reported on Friday, citing anonymous officials. Kiev hopes Trump\u2019s business acumen and influence over…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1828"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1828\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1831,"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1828\/revisions\/1831"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}