WTH is Going On with Seizing Russian Assets? Stephen Rademaker Explains

Two years ago, at the start of the war in Ukraine, $300 billion
in Russian assets were frozen in Western banks. The assumption
behind Western economic pressure on Russia was that sanctions and
seizures of oligarchs’ funds would have a chilling effect on both
Russia’s economy and the pursuit of the war in Ukraine. They have
not. As a result, for only the second time in history, the United
States is considering seizing Russian assets. Congress, in the
lead, has brought the Biden administration around. The President
needs new authorities to move forward. But seizing the frozen
$300 billion – only $5 billion of which is in the United States –
and re-distributing it to Ukraine for reconstruction and other
reparation efforts is fraught. Will the Euros go along? Will this
radical change affect how states approach seizing aggressors’
assets? Perhaps more importantly, is the Biden administration’s
signal of approval for the policy just talk, or will Washington
finally pull together measures that hit Russia where it hurts?


Stephen Rademaker, currently Senior of Counsel at Covington and
Burling LLP, has wide-ranging experience working on national
security issues in the White House, the State Department, and the
U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Serving as an Assistant
Secretary of State from 2002 through 2006, he headed at various
times three bureaus of the State Department, including the Bureau
of Arms Control and the Bureau of International Security and
Nonproliferation. Previously, he served as General Counsel of the
Peace Corps, Associate Counsel to the President in the Office of
White House Counsel, and as Deputy Legal Adviser to the National
Security Council.


Download the transcript here.


Read the WTH Substack here.