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How to Unlock $300 Billion in Russia's frozen assets - Renew Democracy Initiative
On October 12th, the Renew Democracy Initiative (RDI) hosted a presentation of its legal report on how to rebuild Ukraine with Russia’s frozen assets worldwide. The event took place at the Victims of Communism Museum in Washington, D.C.
The presentation was based on a recently released report commissioned by RDI in Spring 2023. The report is authored by constitutional law scholars Laurence Tribe, Raymond “Ray” Tolentino, and their colleagues at Kaplan, Hecker, & Fink (KHF). It focuses on legal tools available to the Biden Administration that enable the transfer of Russia’s frozen sovereign assets to Ukraine—as well as relevant international legal groundwork.
According to former Congressman Tom Malinowski, the question of transferring frozen assets to Ukraine is less a question of “if” and more a question of “when.” On the $300 billion worth of frozen assets, he says, “we are not going to give that money back to Russia.” He continues, adding that if the money is not returning to Russia, then the logical next step is to “use Putin’s money to help rebuild the country that Putin is destroying.”
While there is legal justification for the United States seizing other countries’ assets, there are still economic and geopolitical concerns shared by many in Washington—such as de-dollarization and the risks that political instability poses to global financial stability. Bill Kristol responded to these by acknowledging that the U.S. should want to foster a “safe financial system for people to invest in, but not for genocidal dictators who have brutally invaded their neighboring country.” He added that in normal circumstances, the U.S. president should consider the risks posed to global financial stability. However, Kristol believes that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was an “inflection point” so significant to the future of the 21st century, that the US should do everything it can to help Ukraine win and ensure Russia suffers a steep cost.
The path forward to making Putin pay has been established. Now, Washington needs the political and moral will to walk it.