MOSCOW, April 21 – RIA Novosti.
European officials are outraged by the US insistence on confiscating Russian assets in favor of Ukraine, believing that Moscow's response will primarily affect the EU, not the States, writes The Washington Post.
According to the publication, at the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank , held in Washington last week, American officials put pressure on reluctant European colleagues on the issue of using blocked Russian assets. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with Europeans in the hope of reaching a compromise.
However, the article notes, EU officials are reluctant to confiscate Russian assets, fearing that doing so could violate international law, undermine investor confidence in the euro and provoke retaliatory measures from Russia .
"European officials are also angered by America's insistence on what they see as a risky course where they hold the vast majority of the assets and any Russian retaliation would likely fall on Europe rather than the United States," WP said.
Of course, America must keep wars going constantly in order to keep the war industry running at full gallop. And, certainly, we don't want it on our shores.
At the same time, a representative of the US Treasury, on condition of anonymity, told the publication that the department considers Russian sovereign assets to be a “sustainable medium- and long-term solution” to the problem of financing Ukraine.
Long-term is the plan here. The longer the better for the war industry oligarchs in America.
The day before, the US House of Representatives approved a bill on the confiscation of Russian assets in favor of Ukraine. The document includes a ban on their unfreezing, the authority to provide compensation to Kyiv using these funds and their use for the restoration of Ukraine.
After the start of the special operation in Ukraine, the EU and G7 countries froze almost half of Russian foreign exchange reserves - approximately 300 billion euros. About 200 billion are in the EU, mainly in the accounts of the Belgian Euroclear , one of the world's largest settlement and clearing systems.
Brussels is discussing the possibility of using these funds to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine. But the European Central Bank warned that this poses reputational risks for the euro and called on “to look beyond this isolated conflict” and look for other ways to finance Kyiv.
The Kremlin stated that making such decisions “would be another step in violating all the rules and norms of international law,” and Russia would certainly respond to the confiscation.
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