Text: Ma Jichen
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Recently, the United States has stirred up trouble in the international community. It was only in early April that the fox friends in Asia were called for talks, and on April 20, the focus shifted to Russia. Since the invasion of Ukraine, the United States has introduced various measures to restrict Russia, and this month directly passed a bill to "confiscate Russian assets".
In the past, in the face of the Ukraine issue, as long as the United States took the lead, Europe often followed suit, announcing various bans to demonstrate unity with the United States. This time, however, the United States failed to respond to the call, and on the contrary, European countries made it clear that they would not follow suit. It seems that this time it is too unworth to go against Russia for the sake of the United States.
The reason for this is that the United States has taken this step for Ukraine, which is really too big.
This is not the first time that the United States wants to take away Russia's overseas assets. After the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022, the United States froze Russia's 300 billion foreign exchange reserves with a thunderbolt. This move was supposed to deter Russia, in order to end the Russian-Ukrainian conflict as soon as possible and end with the benefits of Ukraine.
However, the asset freeze has not affected Russia's determination, on the contrary, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has continued, and the United States has been providing more assistance to Ukraine. Every time the U.S. Congress approves an additional proposal to aid Ukraine, it experiences more serious debates.
After all, for many parties in the country, it is really putting the cart before the horse when it has been spending their own money to fight wars in other countries.
Soon, they were eyeing the previously frozen batch of Russian funds. But freezing and taking it directly are completely two different concepts, freezing just not allowing Russia to use it, and taking it directly is like a banditry. Sure enough, there is a clear disagreement between the G7 and whether the money can be used.
In a discussion at the end of December, the Financial Times reported that countries, including France and Germany, were noncommittal about the proposed confiscation of Russian assets and felt that the frozen assets should be treated with caution. In the end, it was decided to revisit the matter in February this year.
But the problem is that Europe can afford to wait, but the US government cannot afford to delay. Ukraine's requests for aid come in every three or five times, and even if new aid bills are constantly approved, the aid reserves that can be taken out have long since bottomed out. The Biden administration has repeatedly come up with a variety of new legal justifications for making sense of how to spend the money and use it to fill the aid gap in Ukraine.
At present, it is the US presidential election, the various parties are fighting each other, and Congress has never approved the flow of funds to Ukraine; on the Israeli side, the turmoil has broken out again, and the United States is in a desperate situation, and it has never been in such a hurry to use money as it is today. The proposed asset seizure has been shelved because of Republican opposition, and House Speaker Johnson has been controversial over the shelf.
For Johnson, although the warning of McCarthy's ouster is still vivid, the need for funds can no longer be delayed.
Finally, in the midst of chaos, on April 20, the US House of Representatives suddenly announced the passage of a bill to confiscate Russian assets. And part of this confiscated asset will be packaged and given to Ukraine. The United States, which has not been able to provide strong assistance for a long time, finally gave a generous hand this time, announcing 60 billion US dollars in aid to Ukraine and 26 billion to Israel in one go.
The international financial market has its own rules, and the US confiscation is undoubtedly a table-turning and a serious violation of the rules of financial exchange.
At this point, the United States has taken a rather dangerous step, because such confiscation of assets from other countries is not justified and is not motivated by economic considerations. The Russian side responded quickly, in which members of the Russian Federation Council unequivocally reminded that such an act would "open a Pandora's box."
And the press secretary of the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, also warned: "We will respond in the way that is most in our interest." ”
In the past, in the West, European countries often began to act as soon as the United States gave an order for assistance, which can be called a grasshopper on a rope. But this time the House of Representatives offered a bill, and the rest of Europe quickly stated that they would not follow in the footsteps of confiscating property. Stakeholders do not mean that others can be taken for fools.
According to foreign media statistics, the Central Bank of Russia still has more than 30 billion funds in Europe. If the United States dares to follow up, if Russia also concocts the confiscation of funds, not to mention that the economic field is completely chaotic, the loss of tens of billions of dollars is not a star.
European politicians have shown obvious dissatisfaction and anger at the US approach. They believe that this non-compliance will affect the country's financial credit, which in turn will affect the banking industry. Imagine if the money invested in the past is confiscated without knowing when, who would dare to inject the funds into this place?
Some European officials have also made it clear that such banditry may violate international law, and if Europe follows suit, it is likely to undermine the trust of international investment institutions in the euro. If the United States really follows the United States in confiscating funds from outside Russia, less money will be invested in Europe from the outside, and a serious outflow of funds can be expected. And Europe, on the other hand, can no longer withstand such a toss.
In the context of the international financial recession, Europe, which has maintained a modern economic system for a long time, is already facing various economic problems. At this time, the United States wants to cut off its own financial routes, and Europe will only refuse and feel angry.
Previously, together with the United States, the United States announced the freezing of Russian assets, which was a plan that was cautiously determined by the leaders of the seven countries and economists who met together to discuss with various parties. Now that the United States has decided to take the lead internally, it is ready to "throw bricks and lead the way" to attract Europe to follow, which will inevitably make European countries feel unreliable.
Taking a step back, even after exchanges and discussions, the confiscation of assets will not affect the confidence of the international market in the euro, and Europe will not be able to enter the game. After all, the United States only accounted for about 5 billion of the previously frozen Russian assets, and the majority was still on the European side. If you really respond to these tens of millions of funds, it is difficult to guarantee that Russia will not retaliate with thunderous means.
The meaning of the statements of other European countries is very clear: we only want to maintain economic stability, and we do not want to tear up our faces with Russia; as for what you are doing, it is a great power game between you, and you should not involve us. Withholding funds from Russia is already a matter of benevolence.
In the already anxious international situation, the United States took the initiative to announce the confiscation of Russia's overseas assets, which made US-Russian relations, which had already fallen to a freezing point, even worse, and also created an extremely uncomfortable problem for European countries. Faced with economic difficulties and the threat from Russia, it is no longer possible for Europe to fight for the United States.
And the banditry of the United States is shattering its label as a "civilized country" and causing the trust of the international community to collapse.
Reference news: The US House of Representatives passed a bill to confiscate Russian assets Russia: This is a "thief" act
Finance Associated Press: The US House of Representatives supports the confiscation of Russian assets Putin's allies: Russia has reasons to take reciprocal measures
CCTV News: The United States suggests that the G7 explore confiscating Russia's $300 billion in assets Many European countries have concerns
Huanqiu.com: Kremlin: The United States must be held responsible for confiscating Russia's frozen assets