Russia has sent an ultimatum to the European Union regarding the hundreds of billions in frozen Russian assets.
According to sources, Russia will retaliate against the European Union if the $300 billion in frozen Russian assets are used to help Ukraine.
This seems to be a major red line for Vladimir Putin, and it represents a massive, yet overlooked element of the geopolitical conflict.
The escalation of this war, and the rise of BRICS, can be traced back to one development: the United States locking Russia out of the SWIFT system.
Throwing Russia out of the SWIFT messaging system, which is the international standard and protocol for moving U.S. dollar reserves between banks, was one of the final straws for the global south.
Every country saw what happened to Russia and thought ‘Are we next?’ When will sweeping U.S. sanctions or the ‘democracy’ treatment come to our shores? This is what they’re thinking.
Whether or not Europe will backtrack and respect Putin’s red line remains to be seen. However, if they choose to proceed, it may escalate events leading to a potential third world war. Here’s more:
An ally of President Vladimir #Putin warned #Europe that Russia has already drafted legislation to retaliate if nearly $300 billion of Russian assets were seized by the West and used to help Ukraine. https://t.co/mDPmM6bVnl
— NTD News (@NTDNews) April 23, 2024
JUST IN: 🇺🇸 🇷🇺 US House passed a bill that will confiscate Russian assets worth billions of dollars and give them to Ukraine for reconstruction.
Russia has $300 BILLION frozen in US, Europe and Japanese banks. pic.twitter.com/mw6F7W1MCr
— Radar🚨 (@RadarHits) April 21, 2024
The House package introduced tonight would push the United States to have a clearer and tougher Russia/Ukraine strategy, including:
*Requires the administration to submit to Congress a clear strategy with specific goals and metrics.
· Requires the transfer of long-range ATACMS.…— Matthew Kroenig (@MatthewKroenig) April 18, 2024
Reuters broke the story and provided this statement from Russian lawmaker Valentina Matviyenko:
“We also have a prepared answer. We have a draft law, which we are ready to consider immediately, on retaliatory measures. And the Europeans will lose more than we do.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently stated: “On Monday, in Ramstein, NATO defense ministers will discuss the implementation of the process of withdrawing frozen assets of Russia to help Ukraine.
We will use Russian assets frozen in Europe to financially support the purchase of weapons for Ukraine. Defense ministers will meet in Ramstein on Monday to discuss concrete implementation.”
"On Monday, in Ramstein, NATO defense ministers will discuss the implementation of the process of withdrawing frozen assets of Russia to help Ukraine — Scholz
"We will use Russian assets frozen in Europe to financially support the purchase of weapons for Ukraine. Defense… pic.twitter.com/0g07WQg2e8
— Victor vicktop55 (@vicktop55) March 15, 2024
NBC News added:
The REPO Act, which would authorize Biden to confiscate the frozen Russian assets in U.S. banks and transfer them to a special fund for Ukraine, is part of the foreign aid package that was stalled for months in the House.
More than $6 billion of the $300 billion in frozen Russian assets are sitting in U.S. banks. Most of the $300 billion in assets are in Germany, France and Belgium.
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