Page 32 - RusRPTFeb24

2.13 Politics - misc
● International Politics
Russia has threatened to seize $288bn in western assets if the West attempts to seize the $300bn in Central Bank of Russia (CBR) reserves frozen in the West shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine almost two years ago.
As reported by bne IntelliNews, the West is moving closer to seizing the CBR’s money as Western financial and military aid has become snarled in internal wrangling.
Russian media calculated that Western companies have some $288bn of assets in Russia that could be nationalised.
A decision on seizing Russian assets may be made when Western leaders meet in late February. Russian mass media, citing figures from the end of 2022, claims that direct investments in the Russian economy from the EU, G7 countries, Australia, and Switzerland amounted to $288bn. Notably, EU countries held the lion's share, with $223.3bn in assets.
Key contributors to Russian investments include Cyprus, the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Italy. The UK stands out among the G7 with worth an estimated $18.9bn as of the end of 2021. Similarly, the US has assets totalling $9.6bn, Japan $4.6bn, and Canada $2.9bn by the close of 2022.
Sweden to send troops to Latvia. Though Sweden's accession to NATO is not yet complete, the government has signaled it is ready to contribute to NATO deterrence and the defense of Baltic countries.
The ‘rules-based order’ that President Biden proclaims has become a slogan rather than a fact,” WP’s David Ignatius argues in his preview of how the Russian-Ukrainian war and other conflicts will evolve in 2024. In his latest column, Ignatius blasts Vladimir Putin’s aggression again Ukraine, but also reminds us how there was an “element of truth” in the Russian leader’s criticism of how the West’s interventions in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Egypt “resulted in a brazen destruction of national institutions and the lifestyle itself,” which he voiced in his 2015 speech at the U.N. “We need new rules at the United Nations to stop wars and a new framework for crisis management with allies and adversaries. Otherwise, in 2024 and beyond, we’ll have to think about the unthinkable,” Ignatius warns, making an implicit reference to the possibility of nuclear weapons use.
There are three problems with confiscating Russian assets frozen by the
32 RUSSIA Country Report February 2024 www.intellinews.com