28 February 2022
Hot War and Cold Freezes
In light of mounting pressure to take effective action against Putin, the European Commission and six states (UK, USA, Canada, Germany, France, Italy) agreed last Saturday on yet another bundle of sanctions against Russia. Some of them had been expected, like the exclusion of Russian banks from SWIFT. Others like the freezing of central bank assets came as a bit of a surprise, allegedly even for Vladimir Putin. He should have watched the news more carefully. The United States did the exact same thing to Afghan central bank assets after the Taliban takeover last year. The purpose of this note is to explore the practical and legal implications of this freeze. Continue reading >>
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