Putin: ‘Theft’ Of $300BN in Frozen Assets A ‘Price Worth Paying’ To Break West’s Grip On Global Finance
Will only accelerate efforts to strengthen own settlement systems with “friendly states”…
In somewhat surprising statements and what can be viewed as a very frank ‘concession’, President Vladimir Putin has said Russia is “ready” to part with its $300 billion in frozen assets, framing it as a another way which accelerates Russia’s and its allies’ shift away from Western-dominated financial systems.
“A significant amount of Russian gold and currency assets is frozen in Western banks. They keep telling us they intend to steal our money,” Putin said before the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) summit in Minsk on Thursday.
If the West does simply take the funds in the end, it would create an “irreversible trend toward the regionalization of payment systems” – and this in the long run would benefit the global economy. “I think it is probably worth paying for,” Putin mused, while further describing the Moscow aims to strengthen its own financial settlement systems with “friendly states.”