On frozen Russian assets: US Congress and the President of the Russian Federation

The US Congress made a decision and supported the bill on the transfer of frozen assets of the Russian Federation to Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the possibility of “exchange.”

Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives reports “European Truth”, with reference to the decision during the hearing of the relevant bill, supported the bill on the use of confiscated Russian assets to help Ukraine. The document authorizes the US Secretary of State to provide additional assistance to Ukraine using assets confiscated from the Russian Central Bank and other sovereign Russian assets.

According to the bill, within 180 days after the law takes effect, the Secretary of State must provide relevant congressional committees with an assessment of Ukraine’s most pressing needs for reconstruction, security assistance and humanitarian assistance. The document prohibits the return of funds to Russian structures subject to sanctions until the Russian Federation leaves Ukraine and agrees to pay it compensation. Now the bill must be considered in the US Congress.

And the constitutional commission of the Riigikogu – the Estonian parliament – on Tuesday approved a bill prepared by the government that will allow frozen Russian assets under international sanctions to be used for the restoration of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Putin signed a decree on the possibility of “exchanging” frozen assets, prescribing the procedure for the sale of foreign securities that belong to Russians, foreigners, including from unfriendly countries, at the expense of funds that are actually blocked for these foreigners in type “C” accounts in Russia. The corresponding document was published on the official legal information portal.

For now we are talking about the exchange of assets in the amount of up to 100 thousand rubles per investor. The conditions for bidding for the relevant transactions will be established by the Government Commission for the Control of Foreign Investments. The decree came into force from the date of signing.

Earlier, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov noted that today 3.5 million Russian citizens have blocked assets worth 1.5 trillion rubles. The Russian authorities propose to begin exchanging them for funds that foreigners accumulate in type “C” accounts.

At the Central Bank agency TASS explained that first conditions will be created for unlocking funds primarily from retail Russian investors. Their frozen assets are usually investments in securities. Interested foreign investors will be able to purchase blocked foreign securities from Russians using funds from type “C” accounts. Participation in the process will be voluntary. At the first stage, it is planned to unblock accounts worth about 100 billion rubles.

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