Russia’s Frozen Assets Should Be Seized, Lithuania’s Simkus Says
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(Bloomberg) -- The Russian reserve assets frozen after Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine should be seized to help fund the defense and reconstruction of that nation, according to Gediminas Simkus, who heads Lithuania’s central bank.
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“We know clearly who the aggressor is,” Simkus — who’s also a member of the European Central Bank Governing Council — told reporters Thursday in Vilnius. “I don’t see any reason why assets of the aggressor shouldn’t be used for a country under attack.”
The remarks appear to be at odds with the position of ECB President Christine Lagarde, who fears the outright seizure of Russian assets — thought to total $280 billion — would risk harming the euro’s status as a reserve currency.
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While the US — whose own bilateral financing promises to Ukraine are being hampered by Congress — backs the idea, politicians in Europe are concerned about the legality of the move and would rather channel cash generated by the assets to Kyiv.
Lithuania, a Baltic nation that shares a border with Russia, has been one of the European Union’s most-vocal members on Kremlin aggression. Simkus said the legal issues that have been raised “aren’t trivial” and that talks should continue.
The position of his central bank is that “the Russian central-bank assets should be used for the needs of a country attacked — for Ukraine, that is,” he said.
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