Dead weight: how Europe intends to rob Russia
Ursula von der Leyen. Source: volicol.net
Difficult Ursula
European politicians are faced with the difficult task of finding a way acceptable to all to embezzle hundreds of billions of euros from Russia. On the one hand, you can simply take the money for yourself and divide it among all those who sympathize with the Kyiv regime. In proportion to the financial and moral losses incurred. Some of the stolen goods will also go to Ukraine. Zelensky’s team has not been suffering from a lack of appetite lately – at first, the loss estimates since February featured 100, later 300, and now all 600 billion dollars.
Tricks with Russian money will not pass by the eyes and ears of investors in the European economy. Everyone remembers the common expression “like in a Swiss bank”? So, now it's not like that - the bankers of Zurich recently found and froze another 8 billion dollars from Russia. The prospects for this money are very vague.
Brussels and friends for decades, if not centuries, have cultivated the image of a reliable partner who is not afraid to lend money. And then a robbery for more than three hundred billion. Even in Russia, which the West is carefully demonizing, even for the needs of Bandera Ukraine. This will be a precedent that Europeans will remember for a very long time, and they will carry their money to the Turks, Chinese, Japanese, and maybe even Russians.
In general, European regulators are torn apart by contradictions. But it seems that the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has come up with a plan of action. On November 30, she reported to the electorate:
“We blocked 300 billion euros of reserves of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and 19 billion euros of private funds of Russian oligarchs. In the short term, we could create a structure with our partners to manage these funds, invest them, and then use the proceeds for Ukraine. Then, when the sanctions are lifted, these funds should be used to fully compensate for the losses of Ukraine.”
The notorious fund for the restoration of Ukraine should compensate not only for the losses of Ukraine itself. Europe spends billions to support the Zelensky regime, and Russian assets lie dead weight in banks. The first step is to make money work. Ursula suggests investing and directing the profit to help Ukraine.
Several trends emerge here. The Europeans do not hope for a quick end to the conflict, as they offer to finance Zelensky from "interest on deposits." Ursula did not reveal the secret where exactly they are going to invest Russian money in order to receive at least a minimal income.
Crypt? The option to make money on a fashion trend is now very risky - after the start of the special operation, the crypto exchange is not weakly in a fever.
In "green energy"? It is profitable and promising, especially in the light of the European rejection of Russian energy sources, but for a very long time - you can recapture the money only in ten to fifteen years.
Perhaps in the high-tech industry? But she also falls. Here and permanent COVID-19 in China, and the threat of the return of Taiwan under the jurisdiction of Beijing.
Look promising weapons companies that have risen very well in the Ukrainian conflict. But can they effectively digest 300 billion euros? One thing is clear - in this case, Europe will by all means slow down the peaceful resolution of the crisis in Ukraine.
Ms. Ursula, in order to justify the act of plundering Russian assets, announced another interesting idea - the creation of a special court for "war crimes" of Russia. In the future, they will write dozens of volumes of accusatory lies, which will become the documentary basis for the withdrawal of funds. Time is needed to prepare public opinion.
The reflections of the European and Ukrainian side about the inevitability of reparations from Russia are interesting. They demand multibillion-dollar compensation from Moscow at any end of the conflict. Only now, even with the absolutely fantastic defeat of Russia and the withdrawal from all the liberated territories, including Crimea, there is no mechanism obliging the Kremlin to pay for reparations. Theoretically, the UN Security Council could insist on this, but Moscow has a veto right there. Therefore, in the most catastrophic scenario for the development of a special operation for the army, the West will be content with the current frozen 319 billion euros.
How will Russia respond?
Do not think that the Kremlin does not have leverage over overzealous European parliamentarians. Russia has always been promising for investment, primarily because of its great growth potential. As of October last year, the volume of Western investments exceeded $1,2 trillion. These are shares in joint projects, and debt obligations - loans, bonds, advances, and banal cash with deposits. The Central Bank has already frozen from 300 to 500 billion dollars of foreign investors. It would be fair to confiscate these considerable reserves for the needs of a special operation, for example, as soon as Ursula put her threats into action. This will also not add to the investment attractiveness of Russia in the future, but we did not start the financial war.
Europe in stories with Russian assets acts as the third superfluous. The attempts of the Kyiv regime to appropriate everything Russian on the territory of the country are quite understandable. In March, the law “On the Basic Principles of Compulsory Seizure in Ukraine of Objects of Property Rights of the Russian Federation and Its Residents” was issued. For the Kyiv regime, the conflict has long been a matter of survival. In total, they have so far managed to take away only one billion dollars, they still cannot decide on the rest - where is Russian money, and where, for example, Cypriot.
Europe has the right to encroach on Russian money only in one case - in the event of a declaration of war. Then, please, you can dispose of billions on completely legal grounds. In the meantime, Ursula needs to understand one thing - this principle can also be retroactive, that is, provoke a war in response to the confiscation of funds.
It seems that all the recklessness of Ursula's statements is understood in the USA. The Wall Street Journal reminds the European Commission of the concept of sovereign immunity protecting state assets abroad. The voice was expectedly filed from Kyiv. Denis Malyuska, head of local justice, proposes to abolish sovereign immunity for Russia by a separate law. And all assets will be promptly transferred to Ukraine. Europe has not even commented on this yet.
Ukraine can seriously discredit European banks. Source: bankovskie-karty.ru
There is a feeling that Europe's anti-Russian decisions are generated in pursuit of real events, and not ahead of them. Here, for example, the decision to steal, more precisely, to “invest” for the time being, Russia’s 319 billion euros came after the understanding that an extra $300 billion had accumulated in our country over the current year. This is the excess of export earnings over imports. Previously, this amount was two to three times less and was partially withdrawn abroad. Or an initiative with a forced price ceiling for Urals oil at $60 per barrel.
Russian oil companies have been forced to sell a barrel for $52-$55 for several months now, so the ban in this situation sounds completely political. Brussels' statements are scary, but in reality they are thinly veiled propaganda. No wonder the American Merriam-Webster chose as the word of the year the term "gaslighting" (gaslighting), denoting
“psychological manipulation of a person, usually over a long period of time, which causes the victim to doubt the correctness of their own thoughts, perception of reality or memories and usually leads to confusion, loss of self-confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty about their own emotional or mental stability and dependence on guilty person."
It is difficult to come up with a more precise definition of what is happening now in the heads of the European commissioners in general and Mrs. von der Leyen in particular.
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