US acknowledges: Seizure of Russian assets is illegal

US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen said at a meeting of finance ministers in Bonn, Germany, on Wednesday that the United States had no legal authority to seize Russian central bank assets blocked by the US invasion of Ukraine, but spoke to US partners about ways Russia is paying for the reconstruction of Ukraine.

Yellen also said there was a possibility that the special license granted to Russia to pay its bondholders in the United States would not be renewed next week.

The Ukraine war on February 24 is the main topic of this week’s G7 finance ministers’ meeting, and Yellen added that officials are looking for ways to force Russia to pay catastrophic damage to Ukraine and its economy as a result of three months of war.

Regarding China, Yellen said China’s tough policies against the corona seem to have become a barrier to production and added to the problems of the supply chain, which has increased costs and slowed economic growth.

“China, as one of the world’s largest economies, has a broad impact on economic growth around the world,” he said.

The US Treasury Secretary also confirmed that he was in talks with Joe Biden to lift a number of non-strategic Chinese tariffs.

Criticizing the West’s indifference to Moscow’s security concerns, Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 21, 2022, recognized the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics in the Donbas region.

Three days later, on Thursday, February 24, 1400, Putin launched a so-called “special operation” against Ukraine, shifting tensions between Moscow and Kiev to a military confrontation.

The war in Ukraine is in its third month, and reactions to the Russian invasion and the shipment of weapons to this country continue. Moscow has warned that US and European military equipment being provided to Ukraine could escalate the conflict in Ukraine and have unpredictable consequences.