Report: Western Nations Mull Funding Ukraine With Frozen Russian Assets

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Facts

• As Ukraine's allies face shrinking support for aid packages to Kyiv — including a US Congressional stalemate — more Western officials are signing on to the idea of using frozen Russian assets as a funding mechanism. While lawmakers in Europe and Washington seek to find legal ways to utilize $300B of Russian central bank funds, which are mostly sitting in Europe, the US Biden administration also wants to find more immediate funding methods.¹
• As the US — which has frozen a total of roughly $600B in Russian funds — and the Group of Seven (G7) allies are seeking legal means to do so, a bipartisan group of lawmakers in Washington is pushing legislation called the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity for Ukrainians Act, which includes the use of frozen assets. This comes as the World Bank estimates Ukraine's 10-year recovery will cost $411B.²
• Some countries have already transferred sanctioned funds to Kyiv. Last May, the last May sent $5.4M seized from Russian businessman Konstantin Malofeyev to a US Dept. of State fund for rebuilding Ukraine. Belgium, which is taxing seized assets, said it's already collected 1.7B euros ($1.8B) which it will use to buy military equipment and humanitarian aid for Ukraine as well as reconstruction support.³
• Regarding Western security pacts with Ukraine, such as the UK's recent agreement with Kyiv, Moscow's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday disparaged it as 'mainly advisory assistance,' followed by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov alleging such agreements are the West's way of avoiding direct conflict and accepting Ukraine into NATO or the EU.⁴
• More than 500 miles (804 km) from the Ukrainian border, Kyiv said it launched drone strikes against an oil facility in St. Petersburg, Russia, with a Ukrainian military source calling it a 'new phase' of strikes. While three drones were launched in the early hours of Thursday, Moscow said all of them were intercepted.⁵
• According to Vladimir Rogov, the Russian-aligned administrator of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, Leningrad was the 19th region Ukraine has attacked so far. He also noted there was no damage or injuries during the attempted assault on the Baltic Sea oil terminal.⁶

Sources: ¹Guardian, ²Washington Post, ³ABC News, ⁴CNBC, ⁵Independent and ⁶Newsweek.

Narratives

• Anti-Russia narrative, as provided by Atlantic Council. While Putin was somewhat successful in hiding his true desires earlier on in this conflict, he is now openly using words like 'conquest' when referring to his military ambitions. If the West wasn't sure about the threat of Russian expansion before, they certainly should be now. It is now critical to unlock all sources of funding for Ukraine to push back on the Kremlin.
• Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by RT International. If Russia was seen as a threat to countries other than Ukraine, why would European stalwarts like Germany vote 485-178 in parliament against sending long-range missiles to Kyiv? Even if Ukraine was given all these fancy weapons and ammunition, it wouldn't change the outcome of this conflict. Ukraine is being strung along with small handouts until the world finally stops caring.

Predictions