Seizing Russia’s Central Bank Funds Is Illegal and Unwise
Breaking international law is the wrong way to help Ukraine.
REPO for Ukrainians Act. The law, if it becomes one, would authorize the US president to confiscate billions of dollars owned by the Russian central bank but held in the US, and to give that money to the Ukrainians instead.
roughly $300 billion in assets held by the Russian central bank in accounts in Western countries. Since Putin’s attack, those funds have been frozen,
The bulk of Russia’s money abroad is sitting in Europe, and in particular in Belgium, home to a securities depository called Euroclear. For REPO to help Ukraine, it would therefore have to inspire the Europeans to emulate it.
Such a move would raise geopolitical questions. One practical consequence would be to signal to China and other countries that have tense relations with the US that their central-bank assets will be confiscated next
Since Putin’s invasion, the US and its Western allies have professed that Ukraine is the front line of a global struggle to defend the “rules-based international order.”
The US and Europe must rise to the occasion — but in the proper way
Andreas Kluth Bloomberg 26 december 2023
European leaders have committed to a definition of victory that implies the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, and have pledged to support Ukraine until it reclaims all territory occupied by Russia during the war’s early stages.
In a recent press conference with Zelensky, Biden introduced a new phrase, saying that the US will support Ukraine “for as long as we can,” which replaced “for as long as it takes.”
Should Ukraine emerge from this war as a vibrant democracy and become a member of NATO and the EU, it would be a spectacular victory, regardless of specific territorial gains.
Mark Leonard Project Syndicate 21 December 2023
Mark Leonard, Director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, is the author of The Age of Unpeace: How Connectivity Causes Conflict (Bantam Press, 2021).
Ukrainakriget fortsätter många soldater och civila förlora sina liv
Hur skulle ett slut på konflikten kunna se ut?
SVT Nyheter frågade Katarina Engberg
29 december 2023
Det är gränsande till självmordsbeteende att västliga politiker kan överväga en politik som kan leda till att Ryssland ges möjligheter att vinna över Ukraina,
skriver Karlis Neretnieks, generalmajor och tidigare rektor för Försvarshögskolan samt ledamot av Kungl. Krigsvetenskapsakademien.
SvD 28 december 2023
Ukraine war: Three ways the conflict could go in 2024
BBC 29 December 2023
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