The White Building in Washington. Archival photoMOSCOW, 1 Jun. Official Washington fears that a possible confiscation of the frozen assets of the Central Bank of Russia will undermine the status of the United States as a reliable investment partner in the eyes of other countries, the New York Times writes, citing sources. «Senior officials in the Joe Biden administration warned that the withdrawal of these funds could be illegal and prevent other countries from relying on the United States as a country to hold investments in the future,» the article says. According to the newspaper, US officials tend to believe that the confiscation of Russian assets could encourage other countries' central banks to reorient their assets from dollars into other currencies.LawsuitsAs the head of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina said earlier, Russia will challenge the freezing of its assets abroad in the courts. “But we were preparing for this scenario: we cannot use part of the reserves now, because it was the geopolitical scenario that came true,” she said.
The European Commission proposed to confiscate assets in an attempt to circumvent sanctionsSeizure of assetsMeanwhile, the British Guardian newspaper reported that a consortium of Ukrainian and international lawyers is preparing a class-action lawsuit against Russia, as well as those who support the special operation in Ukraine, in order to confiscate Russian assets abroad.
«A consortium of Ukrainian and international lawyers is preparing to launch a massive civil lawsuit against the Russian state, as well as representatives of private military companies and businessmen who support Russia's military actions, in an attempt to obtain financial compensation for the millions of Ukrainian victims of the war,» the newspaper said.
British lawyer Jason McCue, who is coordinating the initiative, told the newspaper that a team of hundreds of lawyers and law firms intend to file «numerous claims against different targets in different jurisdictions», including in the US and Britain.
«The plan is to use judgments rendered in the UK and the US to seize Russian assets around the world,» the newspaper writes.The European Commissioner spoke about the difficulties in the confiscation of Russian assetsSpecial operation and anti-Russian sanctionsWestern countries, against the backdrop of a special operation in Ukraine, imposed tough sanctions against Russia, including freezing foreign exchange reserves. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov previously estimated that about half, or about $300 billion, of Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves were frozen. In a number of countries, as part of the sanctions policy, decisions are also being made to freeze the assets and real estate of Russian businessmen. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba previously asked the G7 countries to pass laws that would allow them to confiscate Russian assets and transfer them to Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier that the policy of containing and weakening Russia is a long-term strategy for the West, and sanctions have dealt a serious blow to the entire global economy . According to him, the main goal of the West is to worsen the lives of millions of people. Putin also said that the United States and the European Union had effectively defaulted on their obligations to Russia, freezing its foreign exchange reserves. He added that current events draw a line under the global dominance of the West in both politics and economics.