By KYIV. Dec 18 (Interfax-Ukraine) – G7 officials have stepped up talks in recent weeks to give Ukraine some of the roughly $300 billion in frozen Russian sovereign assets, the Financial Times reported.
A U.S. government discussion paper circulated among G7 committees and seen by the Financial Times notes that G7 members and other particularly affected states may seize Russian sovereign assets as a countermeasure to encourage Russia to cease its aggression.
The publication notes that while Washington has never publicly supported confiscation, the United States has privately taken a harder line in recent weeks, arguing to G7 committees that there is a path to asset confiscation in accordance with international law.
As the publication writes, the U.S. Treasury declined to comment. One American official said that Washington was actively negotiating the use of Russian sovereign assets and believes that there is very little time left to make a decision.
