Washington reportedly believes the move would bear too many risks for market stability<\/p>\n
The US will not join the EU-led plan to use frozen Russian assets to bankroll Ukraine, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing anonymous sources familiar with the discussions.
\nUS officials reportedly conveyed the position to their European colleagues during an International Monetary Fund meeting in Washington last week. The US cited risks to market stability associated with the potential seizure of the assets, one of the sources claimed.
\nThe development constitutes a major setback for the EU, which has been attempting to secure broader support within the G7 for potential action on Russian funds, Bloomberg noted.
\nWestern nations froze an estimated $300 billion in Russian assets after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022 \u2013 some \u20ac200 billion ($213 billion) of which is held by the Brussels-based clearinghouse Euroclear. Kiev\u2019s Western backers have already tapped into the revenues generated by the funds to bankroll Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
EU prepares to offer Ukraine Russia\u2019s frozen billions<\/p>\n
Recently, the EU has been in discussions on a plan to provide a so-called \u2018reparations loan\u2019 of up to \u20ac140 billion ($163 billion) to Kiev, while using frozen Russian assets as collateral to back the bloc-issued bonds. The move would effectively amount to the seizure of the funds, given that Ukraine would be obliged to repay the loan only once Russia compensates it for damages inflicted during the conflict.
\nThe proposal has been backed by Germany, France, and several eastern EU countries, but has faced strong resistance from Belgium. Prime Minister Bart De Wever has insisted that any liability for the proposed move must be shared among all the bloc members rather than Belgium only.
\nSupporters of the plan argue that the scheme falls short of a seizure and insist Russia could ultimately be forced to pay up as a part of a future peace settlement. Moscow, however, has described any attempts to use its assets and proceedings generated from them as \u201ctheft,\u201d threatening retaliation. Third-party skeptics, including IMF chief Christine Lagarde, have also warned that the move could undermine global trust in the EU\u2019s financial system and heavily damage markets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington reportedly believes the move would bear too many risks for market stability The US will not join the EU-led plan to use frozen Russian assets to bankroll Ukraine, Bloomberg…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t