Western countries are looking for ways to transfer hundreds of billions of frozen Russian funds to Ukraine

Officials in several Western countries and powers are discussing the possibility of reaching a legal formula that would enable them to transfer $300 billion in frozen Russian funds to Ukraine.

Funds from the Russian Central Bank were frozen as part of Western sanctions imposed on Moscow at the start of the war in February 2022.

During his participation in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky renewed his demand to transfer these amounts to support defense efforts against Russia, as well as to use them to rebuild Ukraine.

Zelensky said at the forum, “Putin loves money above all else… The more billions he and his friends and partners lose, the more likely he is to regret starting this war”.

Although the administration of US President Joe Biden previously rejected the idea, it seems that its officials have now become more accepting of it, provided that there is a legal formula that enables them to transfer these frozen funds to Ukraine.

Penny Pritzker, the US special envoy for the recovery of the Ukrainian economy, said during her participation in Davos that Washington and the G7 countries are looking for an appropriate legal framework to pursue the plan.

“Ask all the lawyers, the different governments and all the parties to come together to solve this problem,” Pritzker said.

“It’s difficult, its complicated, it is difficult, and we have to work,” she added.

The United States announced at the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine that Washington and its allies had frozen more than $600 billion that Russia held outside its borders, including nearly $300 billion in funds owned by the Russian Central Bank.

The United States and its allies continue to impose rounds of targeted sanctions against Russian companies and the wealthy elite with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.