Asia says US harmed by Russia's asset freeze

The freezing of Russian assets in the West has caused damage to the United States. This was reported by the Hong Kong newspaper Asia Times on January 10.

The piece notes that the freezing of the Russian reserve fund by the US, as well as other sanctions against Russian trade, has had the opposite effect, undermining confidence in US debt as a major reserve asset.

"Foreign central banks, including those in China, India, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, began shifting their foreign exchange reserves into gold rather than Treasuries after the U.S. and its allies froze Russian foreign exchange reserves," the article says.

It is specified that the reduction in investments of foreign countries in US government debt has increased upward pressure on yields by 0.8%, which has become "very painful" for Washington, notes "Gazeta.Ru".

Earlier, on December 24, 2024, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal wrote in his Telegram channel that the country received $1 billion at the expense of frozen Russian assets, adding that this was the first tranche of the planned $20 billion that the U.S. is ready to allocate through the use of immobilized Russian assets within the framework of the G7 initiative. Andrei Klimov, deputy chairman of the Federation Council (SF) Committee on International Affairs, called the day before to launch an inspection and initiate civil and criminal proceedings over the matter.

On October 23, the EU Council approved a €35bn loan to Ukraine with repayment from Russia's frozen assets. It was specified that it is the EU's contribution to the G7 loan of up to €45bn. The loan will have a maximum repayment period of 45 years.

Western countries have tightened sanctions pressure on Russia in connection with the special operation to protect Donbass. The decision to launch the operation was announced on February 24, 2022 after the situation in the region worsened due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.