(Reuters) – Russia will identify U.S. assets, including securities, that could be used as compensation for losses suffered from any seizure of Russian assets frozen in the United States, according to an executive order signed by President Vladimir Putin THURSDAY.
G7 negotiators have been discussing for weeks how best to tap some $300 billion in Russian financial assets, such as major currencies and government bonds, which were frozen shortly after the invasion. Ukraine by Moscow in February 2022.
Russia’s ability to retaliate in a similar way if Western leaders seize its frozen assets has been eroded by dwindling foreign investment, but it could instead go after the liquidity of private investors, officials and analysts said. economists at Reuters this month.
Thursday’s decree states that the Russian Federation or the central bank can ask a Russian court to determine whether its assets were unjustifiably seized and seek compensation.
The court would then order the transfer of compensation in the form of U.S. assets or property to Russia from a list that would be compiled by the Russian government commission on foreign asset sales.
The executive order listed securities, ownership interests in Russian companies, real estate, movable property and property rights among U.S. assets potentially subject to seizure.
Former President Dmitry Medvedev acknowledged last month that Russia held an insignificant amount of U.S. state assets and that any Russian response would be asymmetric, focusing on the assets of individuals.
The executive order also specifies that assets owned by persons under US control could be targeted. He did not specify how being “under American control” would be determined.
The assets of many foreign investors, including individuals and large U.S. investment funds, are held in special “Type C” accounts that Russia introduced shortly after sending its army to Ukraine and being hit by a series of of Western sanctions in February 2022.
Money in these accounts cannot be transferred outside of Russia without the authorization of the Russian authorities.
Washington passed a law authorizing President Joe Biden’s administration to confiscate Russian assets held in U.S. banks and transfer them to Ukraine, which Russia has repeatedly called illegal.
(Reporting by Reuters; writing by Alexander Marrow; editing by Mark Trevelyan)
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