Following a statement by White House spokesman John Kirby, that President Joe Biden will propose using Russia’s frozen foreign exchange reserves to generate a $50 billion war bond for Ukraine, the New York Times for June 12 forecast that President Biden would get obedience this weekend, and subsequently go for more. “The Group of 7,” wrote the Times, “which comprises the world’s wealthiest large democracies, is about to agree to a loan to Ukraine of roughly $50 billion to rebuild the country’s devastated infrastructure, with the understanding that it will be paid back by interest earned on the frozen Russian assets, Western officials said. But even that amount, experts say, would only begin to make a dent in building a new Ukraine.”
Outgoing CEO Lieve Mostrey of Euroclear, which has custody of most of those assets, has stated publicly that “using” (hypothecating) the Russian assets against Russia is no different than confiscating them, and will have consequences for the financial system as a whole. And the next escalation step—to seize the assets and give all $300 billion to Ukraine—is pushed by a group of war-hawk parliamentary leaders in Europe and the United States. A letter published in the June 12 Financial Times by 25 heads of committees, led by U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee chair Michael McCaul and Bundestag Foreign Affairs Committee chair Michael Roth, demands the escalation which is sure to come. It is headlined, “Forget half-measures, G7 must confiscate frozen Russian assets.”
