President’s Office names main opponents of Russian asset confiscation — list

“The biggest opponents of asset confiscation in Europe are Belgium — because the money is held in Euroclear — France, Italy, and Germany. They’re afraid their own companies’ assets in Russia will be seized. But our argument is that this doesn’t stop Russia at all. They’ve confiscated and will continue to confiscate assets of what they call ‘unfriendly’ countries,” Mudra said.

She explained that Euroclear, Clearstream, and central banks are the financial institutions where most of Russia’s money is held — and they don’t want to lose around $300 billion.

“That’s the economic part, but there’s a political one as well. And the core problem is that, unfortunately, today’s political leaders lack the will to confiscate these assets. Major countries fear it could set a precedent, and that one day it might be used against them,” she said.

Mudra clarified that Ukraine doesn’t need the entire $300 billion in one lump sum.

“These funds can be held in a special fund located somewhere in Europe. The money can be managed properly to ensure Ukraine gets the most benefit from it. That should be the source for implementing the decisions of the compensation commission, which we’re also working to establish,” she said.

According to her, diplomatic negotiations on the creation of that commission are already underway.

“The third component is the compensation fund. That’s what we’re trying to secure: a decision on confiscating Russian assets, transferring them into the fund, and then using the money to carry out the commission’s decisions. The amount won’t be enough. Right now, it’s about $300 billion,” she said, confirming the funds in question belong to Russia’s Central Bank.

Mudra stressed this is not about private assets held by Russian individuals or companies — it concerns only Russia’s sovereign assets.

“And it won’t be enough. The World Bank and the European Commission jointly estimated the damage at about $586 billion. That’s only half of what we already need. And if we start counting losses from 2014, the figure will be several times higher. I wouldn’t rule out that the total could reach $1 trillion,” she said.

When asked where to find more funds — since even $300 billion would fall short — Mudra said other options are on the table. These include imposing a special tax on Russian oil and petroleum product sales, levies on certain sectors of Russian industry that continue trading with other countries, and deductions from Russian profits on those transactions into the compensation fund.

Earlier, NV Business reported on when and how Ukraine might use frozen Russian assets.