Germany is ready to seize Russian assets to help restore Ukraine, - mass media
Germany is open to using billions of euros in frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine rebuild, if the legal issues are resolved and allies follow suit.
As Censor.NET reports, Bloomberg writes about this with reference to people familiar with the discussions.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government supports Ukraine's demand for war reparations, but has yet to take an official position on seizing Russian state assets due to differences in the ruling coalition.
If Berlin can resolve its own problems, it could give new impetus to discussions in the European Union and put pressure on the United States to seize assets, such as central bank reserves, that were frozen in response to the Russian invasion.
According to the publication, German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock insists that the seizure of at least part of the frozen assets should be an option.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner, who heads the pro-business Free Democrats, is more cautious. He is concerned that confiscating the assets of the Russian central bank could set a dangerous precedent and drag European countries and their allies into a legal quagmire.
The EU and the G7 countries froze about 300 billion euros of reserves of the Russian central bank. The EU has also frozen around €19 billion in assets belonging to sanctioned Russian businessmen, although these estimates are not complete. These assets are in a suspended state and cannot be distributed at this time.
Instead of an outright arrest, a more likely legal path would be to seize the assets of individuals proven to be involved in Russian war crimes, one of the interviewees said. However, such cases can take years to go through the courts, which can reduce such an initiative to mere symbolism.
Details of the discussions show that the potential for asset seizure is moving beyond theoretical debate and into practical implementation, but serious obstacles remain. Scholz wants any move to be coordinated with allies and legally clear.
