The United States called "payment for damage to Ukraine" a condition for unfreezing Russia's assets

Siluanov on August 22 announced the preparation of a decree on the exchange of blocked assets for 100 billion rubles. The US stressed that Russian assets in Western countries will remain frozen until payment for "damage caused to Ukraine " Jake Sullivan

Russian assets in the jurisdictions of the United States, France, Germany, Italy and Britain will remain frozen until Moscow "pays for the damage caused to Ukraine." This was reported by the press service of the White House, citing a statement by US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan following a meeting with his European counterparts.

“National security advisers have stressed that Russia’s sovereign assets in their countries’ jurisdictions will remain frozen until Russia pays for the damage it has caused Ukraine, and have considered further ways to hold Russia accountable,” the press service said in a statement. .

In January, the head of the US Department of Justice working group on the identification and arrest of Russian assets subject to US restrictions, Andrew Adams, announced an early transfer of part of the frozen Russian assets to Ukraine. The head of the European Council, Charles Michel, also stated that Russia's funds frozen in the West could soon be directed to the restoration of Ukraine. Russian authorities criticize Western sanctions , President Vladimir Putin warned that "theft of other people's assets" does not lead to good.

After the start of the Russian special operation, Western countries imposed sanctions against the Russian Central Bank and froze its foreign exchange assets abroad. According to Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, Russia has lost access to half of its gold and foreign exchange reserves - about $ 300 billion. At the end of March 2022, the Central Bank introduced mirror measures "for a comparable amount." The regulator restricted the movement of capital, banned the sale of securities by foreign investors and their withdrawal of funds from the Russian financial system.

According to the Central Bank, the total volume of assets blocked due to sanctions, which belong to Russian legal entities and individuals, at the end of November 2022 amounted to 5.7 trillion rubles. In July last year, the regulator reported that more than 5 million private investors had blocked assets. In May 2023, the head of the Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina, estimated the total amount of assets that Russian investors managed to return as a result of counter-sanction measures at 3 trillion rubles.

On August 22, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told President Vladimir Putin at a meeting on national projects that the government and the Bank of Russia had prepared a draft presidential decree on the exchange of blocked assets of Russians for assets of foreign investors, which are accounted for in special C-type accounts. Siluanov noted that about 100 billion rubles could be unlocked at the first stage.

A day later, the Bank of Russia revealed the details of plans for the exchange of frozen assets. The Central Bank explained that at the initial stage, the mechanism involves the creation of conditions for unlocking the assets of retail investors. "Interested foreign investors will be given the opportunity to purchase from Russian investors the corresponding" blocked "foreign securities at the expense of funds held on accounts of type "C", - said the representative of the Central Bank. The participation of investors in the asset swap will be voluntary.

At the same time, sources of the Financial Times reported that the European Union is not negotiating with Russia on the exchange of frozen assets. One of the interlocutors of the agency said that detailed negotiations on this issue are hardly possible even in the near future.

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