It was decided to start small — with an amount of 100 billion rubles
The state has developed a mechanism that, with a high degree of probability, will make it possible to unfreeze the assets of Russian private investors abroad. We are talking about an actual exchange with the West, moreover, mutually beneficial and on a voluntary basis: according to the Central Bank, these assets will be offered to be bought out by foreign companies, whose funds are currently blocked in the Russian Federation in special ruble accounts of type “C”.
Theoretically, things can go as far as partial unblocking of the state, gold and foreign exchange reserves (GFR) of our country in the amount of $300 billion. In reality, this will be much more difficult to achieve due to a number of circumstances, both technical and political.
The day before, on August 22, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that at the first stage the amount (in the case of Russian individuals) would be about 100 billion rubles. The minister estimated the total volume of assets blocked abroad by Russians at 1.5 trillion rubles, they belong to 3.5 million investors. It is fundamentally important that the funds are blocked, not confiscated. As for the funds of non-residents on type C accounts in Russia, their volume, according to Interfax sources, is approaching 0.6 trillion rubles.
What are C accounts? They appeared in accordance with Presidential Decree No. 95 of May 1, 2022, as if in the wake of Western sanctions that led to the freezing of Russian assets abroad, explains. — “C” accounts received funds from those foreign owners who stopped doing business in Russia by selling a package of their securities (part of the share capital). The proceeds from the sale were not allowed to be exported to foreigners, having been blocked on C-type accounts. However, from these accounts they were allowed to invest in Russian government bonds, buy stakes in Russian enterprises, pay taxes (if they still have production facilities in the Russian Federation).
After almost a year and a half of butting with the West about the frozen By the sides of the accounts, the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of the Russian Federation seem to have found a way out of the impasse by offering their opponents a mutual unblocking. Moreover, it was decided to start with a small amount of 100 billion rubles. The situation with individuals is relatively simple, in contrast to the history of gold reserves: the legal mechanism is clear to the end, the amounts are clear, the ownership of the funds is clear. There is an important legal point here, Belyaev notes: individuals do not fall under the motives for which the West decided to block their money, namely, because of the decision of the Russian state to launch a special military operation. And here they are?