A top diplomatic source has informed me that large European companies that are still operating in Russia are pressuring their respective governments not to go ahead with new rules to make use of frozen Russian assets for the aid of Ukraine. The source has not yet confirmed which major companies are exerting this pressure, but US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen was in Italy, yesterday, and raised the matter with her Italian counterpart, Minister for the Economy and Finances Giancarlo Gorgetti.
Yesterday, Janet Yellen urged political leaders to urgently come to an agreement to find a way to divert frozen Russian Central Bank assets to Ukraine. Yellen stated that the transfer of assets is more urgent than ever given the delays of military aid by the US Senate.
European leaders have been squabbling over legal technicalities on how they will be using frozen assets of the Russian Central Bank These assets won’t be sent to Ukraine, but invested in various securities with their earnings going to Ukraine. At one point in time, the Europeans plan to give back the assets to Russia. Despite the very mild punitive effect of this plan, European leaders have still held back from going forward with the proposal citing “legal problems” (there are none of these in reality).
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