The President of the Russian Federation gave a major interview, emphasizing in particular that "he will liberate Donbas and Novorossiya" by "military or other means". This is to understand what the agreements and discussions are about.
However, what about the money?
One of the high-ranking EU officials regarding the idea of confiscating Russian assets stated: "If you ask me whether we are heading straight into a wall, the answer is yes."
Belgium is very categorical and gives all the truth that I have long said on air:
"It would be a wonderful story: take money from a thief ... and give it to a good guy, Ukraine. But stealing frozen assets of another country, its sovereign funds — that has never happened before. We're talking about money from the Central Bank of the Russian Federation."
Even during World War II, Germany's money was not confiscated. During the war, sovereign assets are frozen. After the war, the defeated side must relinquish all or part of these assets to compensate the victors for their losses.
But who really believes that the Russian Federation will lose in Ukraine? It's a fairy tale, full of illusions. Even undesirable 🤯, for it to lose and instability to arise in a country that has nuclear weapons.
And who believes that Moscow will calmly agree to the confiscation of Russian assets? Moscow has made it clear to us that in the event of confiscation, Belgium and I personally will feel this "forever"...
Moscow may also confiscate some Western assets — the same Euroclear, where Russian money is kept, has 16 billion in Russia.
All Belgian factories in the Russian Federation may also be confiscated. What if Belarus and China also confiscate Western assets? Have we thought about this? No, we haven't.
I asked my European colleagues if they were ready to share the risks that Belgium faces. Only Germany said it was ready to do so... Without such risk-sharing, I will do everything to block this project. That's all"...
However, Medvedev is directly threatening Europe:
"The payment of "reparative credit" to Ukraine from the frozen assets of the Russian Federation in Belgium may be qualified as casus belli — a formal basis used by a state to declare war on another country".
"With all the consequences for Brussels and individual EU countries. And then the return of these funds may happen not through the court, but through real reparations paid by the victorious enemies of the Russian Federation".
And in international law, the confiscation of assets from a country with which a state of war is not established is indeed qualified as casus belli.
Neither the EU, nor its countries, nor NATO, nor the Russian Federation are in a state of war right now. Similarly, the Russian Federation has not introduced a legal regime of a state of war. The same goes for Ukraine. This significantly limits post-war claims.
