Billions of euros: Germany is ready to transfer to Ukraine confiscated Russian assets - media

The Chancellor Government Olaf Scholtz supports Ukraine's demand for military reparations, but has not yet taken an official position on asset confiscation in the Russian Federation. The publication writes that if Berlin is able to deal with the issues of this, it can give a new impetus to discussions in the European Union and put pressure on the US so that they also confiscate Russian assets.

First of all, this applies to reserves of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, which were frozen at the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The material states that German Minister of Foreign Affairs Annalen Berb needs that Russia will compensate for the damage caused to Ukraine. It insists that confiscation of at least some of the frozen assets should be considered as a possible solution to this problem.

Journalists also write that German Finance Minister Christian Lindner is more careful. It is concerned that the confiscation of assets of the Russian Central Bank can create a dangerous precedent and start European countries and their allies into "legal mire". It is reported that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants any action to be agreed with the allies.

The newspaper writes that the EU and partners from the Rich Seven Rich Seven countries have frozen about 300 billion euros in the reserves of the Russian Central Bank. The EU also blocked assets worth about 19 billion euros owned by Russian businessmen under sanctions. The assets are in a suspended state and now it is impossible to find distributed.

One source told reporters that instead of total confiscation, the assets of persons whose involvement in war crimes could be more profitable from a legal point. However, the consideration of such cases can take years, and therefore such an initiative will be reduced to something symbolic. It is noted that the Kremlin called freezing their reserves illegal. So they stated that they would fight any attempts to seize Russian assets and use them.

The publication writes that the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Liaien has stated that the EU will "find legitimate ways" to confiscate Russian assets to help finance Ukraine's restoration. The block will seek to create a structure for managing these funds and investing them for the benefit of Kiev. EU representatives stated that the block would bring the bulk of the total financial assistance for the restoration of Ukraine. The amount may exceed 500 billion euros.

In addition, it is reported that in the US, Congress legislators demanded that President Joe Baiden's administration consider confiscation of some Russian assets by adopting legislation that allows it in certain cases. The White House Administration has still resisted this persuasion, fearing that other foreign central banks would not place assets in the United States. Earlier, Focus wrote that according to the results of 2022 the supply of Russian oil decreased by 90%.