The use of proceeds from Russian assets frozen in the West to support Ukraine is not an illegal seizure of money, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Sunday, June 16. Thus, she responded to the criticism of the decision of the G7 to allocate $50 billion to Kyiv on the security of these revenues. This is reported by DW, writes UNN.
Details
Yellen emphasized that the Central Bank of Russia's assets frozen in Western countries will remain untouched - we are talking about 260 billion euros, most of which are stored in the European depository Euroclear. However, Russia has no rights to the interest on the investment of these funds, which annually amount to 2.5 to 3.5 billion euros, the US Treasury Secretary emphasized.
"So there is no legal issue here," Yellen said.
Addendum
The Russian Foreign Ministry called the use of frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine "another blow to international law" and said that "retaliatory measures will definitely follow" and they will be "painful." Moscow did not disclose the substance of these threats.