President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on Ukraine’s partners to create a legal framework for the use of frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine.
Source: Volodymyr Zelenskyy on X (Twitter)
Quote: “The decision to use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine will be an entirely just and legitimate response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. It will send the right message to all would-be aggressors around the world: attacking another state does not pay off; it makes the aggressor pay. I encourage partners to move quickly on relevant legal frameworks. This year, we must achieve tangible progress toward using frozen Russian assets for the benefit of Ukraine. We firmly rely on G7 leadership on this matter.”
I’m not saying it as a “He did it so I get to do it too!” excuse, I’m saying it as a point that it can’t be reasonably seen as unprovoked.
I’m not saying there’s not going to be any corruption or graft with all money sent to Ukraine. I’m saying that accusations of the countries seizing the money simply profiteering become significantly weaker when the money is not actually going to the country that is seizing the money.
Libya is the most recent war where asset seizure occurred by Western countries that I can think of. Iraq before that. I believe Vietnam and North Korea didn’t have their assets tied up in US-friendly countries.