Japan transfers $3 billion from frozen Russian funds to Ukraine
26 December 08:44
Japan plans to transfer $3 billion secured by frozen Russian assets to Ukraine. This was announced by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy after a conversation with the newly appointed Prime Minister of Japan Shigeru Ishiba, Komersant ukrainskyi reports.
“I am grateful for the decision of the Japanese government to transfer another $3 billion to Ukraine, secured by frozen Russian assets, and for additional assistance for energy equipment and the construction of shelters,”
– Zelensky wrote on Telegram.
This decision is part of Japan’s large-scale support for Ukraine. The total amount of Japanese aid has already reached $12 billion, Zelenskyy said.
During the conversation, the leaders also agreed on a future face-to-face meeting to continue the dialogue on further cooperation between the two countries.
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Russian money abroad
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, about €260 billion of the Central Bank of Russia’s assets were frozen in the form of securities and cash in the jurisdictions of the G7, the EU and Australia, with more than two-thirds of them frozen in the EU.
belgium controls €190 billion of assets in euros, the United States controls assets worth between $40 and $60 billion, and the United Kingdom controls about £25 billion.
Ukraine’s partners are discussing the idea of confiscating these funds in favor of Ukraine, but they are stopped by the fact that this would be a violation of the rights of depositors. Even the decision to transfer the proceeds of these assets to Ukraine was very difficult for them.
As for the funds of private individuals, the American think tank Atlantic Council claimed at the beginning of the full-scale war that Russians had about $1 trillion of “dark money” abroad. According to a 2020 report, a quarter of this amount is controlled by Putin and his oligarchs. This money is generally untouchable for the West, and there is no talk of any action against it.
