Page 15 - RusRPTApr24

The 'Wheelbarrow'
Rather than letting the collateral go to waste while it's in our care, this would involve rehypothecating it to raise liquidity for Ukraine, which would be invested in such a way as to create growth and profit. Then when everything's over, the collateral can be returned and nobody is any wiser. A bit like "borrowing" someone's wheelbarrow to sow your fields, then putting it back but still benefiting from the crops that grow in the meantime.
It's just an advance against reparations
This would involve dispensing the assets on behalf of Ukraine at will, on the basis that when the war's over, (and we've won), we can claim it against the reparation bill we will send to Russia. But this is a bit like a landlord spending a tenant's deposit because they are fairly confident the property will undoubtedly get trashed. So high on the hubris meter.
We'll just take the interest
An iteration of the Wheelbarrow, but with much less of a punch. Still complicated.
The tax smokescreen
Asset confiscation is sometimes disguised in the former of extraordinary taxes levied by governments unexpectedly. But this is easier to enforce on private individuals or corporates, and markets still tend to see through the ruse.
Forget about the perception of legality
Drop the perception of legality and suffer the consequences. Or declare war and confiscate according to the Trading with the Enemy Act. (Though that act only applies to Britain).
2.4 Russia’s population is shrinking and even immigration won’t help
At the end of last year, Russia has 146.2mn people living permanently in the country. Excluding the population living in Crimea, illegally annexed in 2014, Russia’s 2023 population was about 144 mn. Russia’s population peaked in 1993 at around 149 mn, Bank of Finland Institute for Economies in Transition (BOFIT) said in its weekly report on March 1.
Russia’s natural population growth has been negative or flat since 2000, which means that overall deaths have outnumbered births. Only 1.27mn babies were born in Russia last year, the lowest number since 2000. The drop in the birth
15 RUSSIA Country Report April 2024 www.intellinews.com