On the eve of the G20** meeting, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen publicly called on countries in São Paulo, Brazil, on February 27 to "unleash" the value of frozen Russian assets and use them to aid Ukraine. The Russian side previously said that any relevant actions would be met with a reciprocal response from Russia.
Yellen also claimed that using these assets to help Ukraine would make it clear that Russia cannot win by prolonging the war and would prompt Russia to negotiate with Ukraine.
At the same time, European Commission President von der Leyen said again on the 28th that the EU should consider using the proceeds from frozen Russian assets to buy ** equipment for Ukraine. Von der Leyen said last week that the European Union had initiated legal procedures to ensure that the proceeds of frozen Russian assets did not belong to Russia.
After the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the European Union, the Group of Seven (G7) and Australia froze about 260 billion euros worth of assets of the Russian central bank, more than two-thirds of which were frozen in the EU. Since last year, Western politicians have advocated the use of frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine, but disagreement on how to do so.
The United States and Britain advocate an outright seizure of the assets of the Russian central bank, but Germany and France oppose it, fearing that such a move could undermine the stability of the euro and set a dangerous precedent. Rather than outright confiscation, the EU prefers to seize the proceeds of Russian assets and transfer those funds to Ukraine.
The Russian side has repeatedly said that the seizure of Russian assets by the West is theft
In this regard, the Russian side has repeatedly stated that any seizure of its assets by the West is theft and illegality in accordance with international law.
RIA Novosti quoted Russian Finance Minister Siluanov as saying on the 26th that any action taken by other countries against frozen Russian overseas assets will receive a reciprocal response, and the amount of Western funds frozen in Russia is not rare. Russian press secretary Dmitry Peskov said earlier this month that the illegal seizure of Russian assets would undermine the foundations of the global economic system, and that if Western countries did so, Russia would resort to law.
CCTV).