The European Union has moved a big step closer to using the near-$350 billion of Russian central bank assets frozen within Europe to help Ukraine fund its defence.– the larger part of the $430 billion of Russia’s central bank assets frozen by the West at the onset of the war two years ago – announced that it would proceed with a plan to pass most of the interest being generated on the assets held by the Belgium-based clearing house, Euroclear, to Ukraine.
Euroclear, the Europeans more broadly and Western banks have, however, argued that seizure is a big step beyond freezing of the assets, one that would be in breach of international laws that generally prohibit expropriation of foreign private property assets without fair compensation. The new plan, which has been agreed in principle, is to funnel the interest through a special EU budget allocation known as the “European Peace Facility,” which is dedicated to funding Ukraine’s military.The US Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, has downplayed those risks by making the point that there are no real alternatives as reserve currencies to the US dollar, the euro and Japan’s yen.
The Europeans are also worried, with good reason, that Russia will launch a blizzard of litigation in response and also target, not just the €33 billion of assets Euroclear holds within Russia, which are already frozen, but funds in its securities depositaries in other jurisdictions. Euroclear has about €37 trillion of international assets on its platforms.
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