Yellen Calls on US, G7 to Seize Russian Assets to Aid Ukraine

The Group of 7 nations and other U.S. allies should explore ways to seize frozen Russian assets and use that money to help Ukraine, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said this week.

Yellen said she doesn’t have a “preferred strategy” for how countries should go about seizing the assets but noted that Congress would have to pass legislation to give the U.S. that authority. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January passed a bill that would authorize the government to seize about $5 billion in frozen Russian central bank assets in the U.S. to help pay for rebuilding Ukraine (see 2401240069).

“I think it's important for the G7 and our allies and partners to do -- to find a way to unlock the economic value of the frozen Russian assets,” Yellen said during a Feb. 27 news conference in Sao Paulo ahead of meetings this week between Group of 20 finance ministers. She said “there are a number of possible ways in which that could occur," including through asset seizure, which would be the “simplest possibility."

“I believe in most of the G7 countries, some domestic action would need to be taken to make that legal," Yellen said. "So it's important for the G7 to work together.”

She called the move “necessary and urgent,” adding that the G7 needs to “find a way to unlock the value of these immobilized assets to support Ukraine's continued resistance and long-term reconstruction.” She said there is a “strong international law, economic and moral case for moving forward.”

“This would be a decisive response to Russia's unprecedented threat to global stability,” Yellen said, “and it would make clear that Russia cannot win by prolonging the war, and would incentivize it to come to the table to negotiate a just peace with Ukraine.”