The Implications of Using Frozen Russian Assets To Rebuild Ukraine

Western governments are facing mounting pressure to use the roughly $300 billion in Russian central bank assets they froze back in February 2022 to fund Ukraine's reconstruction. In late June, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union would soon outline how it intends to use proceeds from seized Russian assets for Ukraine's post-conflict recovery efforts. In the United States, lawmakers in Congress have also recently introduced bills that would grant the U.S. president the authority to confiscate Russian assets frozen within the country and allocate them to Ukraine. However, expropriating assets owned by a sovereign state is a complex issue with myriad legal, economic and strategic implications that are worth exploring as Western policymakers mull such a major decision....