Deputy Secretary of the Security Council Venediktov called the freezing of assets of the Russian Federation one of the greatest thefts in history
Deputy Secretary of the Security Council (SB) of the Russian Federation Alexander Venediktov commented on the freezing of Russia’s assets. His words lead RIA News.
“Let’s call a spade a spade: the freezing of Russian assets is one of the greatest thefts in history,” he said. According to the Deputy Secretary of the Security Council, “the organizers of this crime are the same people who previously assumed responsibility for maintaining the world economic architecture.”
It’s like asking a fox to guard a chicken coop.
Earlier, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that Western countries had frozen about half of Russia’s gold and foreign exchange reserves. “We have a total of about $640 billion of reserves, about 300 billion of reserves are now in a state in which we cannot use them,” he explained.
US Treasury Report
Earlier, the US Treasury reported on the blocking of Russian assets in 100 days. At the same time, the largest part (300 billion dollars) was made up of the assets of the Central Bank of Russia, the rest of the funds belong to individuals and companies.
330billion dollars
amounted to the total amount of frozen Russian assets
The US agency noted that an international group to search for Russian assets has not finished its work on freezing hundreds of billions. It will continue to monitor Russian assets that are under sanctions. The working group, called Russian Elites, Proxies and Oligarchs (REPO), includes representatives from Australia, the UK, Germany, Italy, Canada, France, Japan and the European Commission.
US authorities find use for frozen Russian assets
The US Department of Justice expressed the hope that Congress will allow all the assets seized from Russia and Russian entrepreneurs to be turned in favor of Ukraine. This was stated by First Deputy Attorney General-U.S. Attorney General Lisa Monaco, writes TASS.
According to her, the US authorities intend to get to these assets, regardless of their form.
We want to try to get to these assets, no matter what form they take: luxury yachts, bank accounts or other goods, aircraft, whatever.
Monaco noted that if the US can track that this wealth is associated “with illegal activities, evasion of sanctions”, then its removal “is on the agenda.” The next step after tracking “illegal” assets will be their confiscation and sale of assets. The proceeds will be directed to the benefit of the Ukrainian people, concluded Monaco. According to her, the process of transferring the confiscated assets will not take years.
On April 27, the US House of Representatives passed a law that allows the assets arrested due to anti-Russian sanctions to be used to support Ukraine. Congressmen approved the confiscation of assets of foreigners if the funds were received with the support of the leadership of the Russian Federation or illegal actions. The money can be directed to the restoration of Ukraine and humanitarian assistance to the citizens of the country. At the same time, Finance Minister Janet Yellen admitted that the American side does not yet know whether the frozen assets of the Russian Central Bank can be used to help Kyiv.
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In the UK, they also found a way to use the arrested mansions of Russian oligarchs. They wanted to accommodate Ukrainian refugees there. According to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Dominic Raab, the British government has the right to do so under sanctions against Russia if sufficient evidence is provided against the oligarch.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the start of a special military operation in the Donbass. After that, many Western countries reacted to this with harsh sanctions against Russian individuals and legal entities.
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