According to the latest information, the US administration intends to "confiscate" 300 billion euros of foreign exchange deposited by the Central Bank of Russia in the United States and Europe.
Soon after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the United States and the West confiscated 300 billion euros of foreign exchange from Russia to pressure Russia, which is equivalent to about $330 billion at the current exchange rate, two-thirds of which is in Europe. According to the US media, the Biden administration of the United States has held urgent negotiations with allies on this, and the discussions between the finance ministers, diplomats and lawyers of the countries involved in the negotiations have become more and more intense, for which the United States has even begun to pressure the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan, asking them to put forward a strategy for using Russian assets on February 24, 2024, the second anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
It is not difficult to guess what US President Joe Biden really intends to do. As early as last month, there was news that the U.S. aid to Ukraine funds had dried up, and considering that the House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress is currently headed by the Republican Party who is not very hostile to Russia, it is unlikely that the bill on providing new military aid reserves for Ukraine will pass, so Biden may have hit the idea of Russia's overseas assets at that time, and Congress did not pass it on the 6th of this month, so that Biden was angry, so he became more and more eager to force his allies to cooperate with him in this regard.
But there are some things that you can't just do if you want to. As a party that did not directly participate in the war, forcibly freezing the foreign assets of the participating parties is already the limit of US and Western hegemony. Further "confiscation" is unheard of and unprecedented. In fact, the United States forcibly opened the back door at that time, because after the United States withdrew its troops, the Afghan government supported by the United States was quickly overthrown by the Afghan Taliban, and the United States did not recognize the interim government of the Afghan Taliban, but only recognized the pro-American but already virtually non-existent Afghan government, so it dared to divide the $7 billion under the pretext of compensating the victims of "9/11". However, many countries, including China and Russia, have repeatedly spoken out in the international community demanding that the US immediately repay the money, which shows that the international community cannot approve of what the US has done.
The current Russian government is different from the Afghan Taliban, confiscating its foreign exchange, and even the United States and the West, which are most keen to meddle in the internal affairs of other countries, do not have corresponding laws.
In fact, regarding the aid to Ukraine, although the United States' funds have dried up, the European side is not without a way, and it has recently been reported that the United Kingdom will take over from the United States and lead the military aid to Ukraine. It can be said that the European allies of the United States have done their best against the United States at this time. But Biden is very clear that in the past, aid to Ukraine has always been led by the United States, and he is responsible for most of the supplies for Ukraine. The combined economic strength of European countries is about the same as that of the United States, and it is absolutely impossible for Britain to lead the United Kingdom to have an effect similar to that when the United States led the aid to Ukraine.
Even so, Biden's plan surprised his allies, saying that "such actions could have unpredictable legal and economic consequences" and would trigger lawsuits and retaliation from Russia. The British media even bluntly said that this crossed the bottom line! The Russian side also claimed that this move may trigger the severance of diplomatic relations between the United States and Russia, and that the Russian side will also "retaliate with a tooth for a tooth."
In fact, judging from the relevant reports that Biden is pressuring his allies, it is not difficult for us to find that the allies of the United States dare not approve of Biden's intentions. It's not that Europe is righteous, it's just that everyone knows very well that once Biden uses this trick, there will be endless troubles.
Second, if the United States and the West use Russia's overseas assets, it will inevitably provoke Russia, and the most serious thing is to let Russia take action against the United States and the West, even if it does not trigger such consequences, it will also stimulate Russia and make Russia realize that it must win as soon as possible, otherwise its 300 billion assets will be exhausted by the United States and the West, and it will inevitably take more radical measures on the battlefield in Ukraine. How terrible is a country that has been forced to do so on the battlefield? Just look at Israel.
Even if Russia does not have a bottom line like Israel, but Russia's military strength is much stronger than Israel's, and its nuclear arsenal is much larger than Israel's, you must know that Russia has maintained restraint around the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, and there have been 42 countries to aid Ukraine before, counting Ukraine is 43 countries, 43 countries can't defeat Russia, at this time, once Russian President Putin is pressed, anything terrible can happen.
Finally, you must know that many countries in the international community have hidden dangers of war, and if the United States and the West confiscate Russia's assets today, everyone in the international community will be in danger, and no one dares to guarantee that one day the United States and the West will not "score two goals" in the event of a military conflict. Therefore, in the future, many countries will inevitably withdraw their assets from the financial institutions of the United States and the West, and the financial advantages of the United States and the West will also be wiped out! Especially considering the current Sino-US relations, China has no choice but to guard against this!
Therefore, even if the White House's aid funds to Ukraine bottomed out, Biden is very afraid that Putin will win the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, but his attempt to confiscate 300 billion Russian assets will still never be used. In this regard, we can only say that Biden has lost his eyes, so his allies refuse to support his ambition!