US, EU cannot locate part of $200 bn ‘frozen’ Russian assets; 'do not know where it is...'

United States and its European allies are unable to locate an estimated two-thirds or more of Russian assets that y froze in a retaliatory response to Russia's military invasion of Ukraine in February. “y do not know where exactly y [ frozen funds] are,” Charles Lichfield, a senior finance expert at Atlantic Council told Estonian media, Lichfield, according to Russian state-affiliated agency Tass.

deputy director of Washington-based think tank’s GeoEconomics Center and expert on Russia’s central banking system furrmore ded that EU and US h, in actual, seized $80-$100 billion and not $300 billion Russian assets as was widely reported in American media. EU ditionally froze $16.9 billion more in dition to freezing previous assets in  Central Bank of Russia's foreign exchange reserves around world. 

EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders said in an interview published in France's La Monde that this figure later rose from roughly €13.8 billion "from oligarchs and or entities" that was announced was frozen in July, mainly in five countries. Separately, he told German media group, Funke, including Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung daily, that this far, assets of 90 Russian people have been frozen, "more than €17 billion in seven member states, including 2.2 billion euros in Germany."

EU suggested to 'invest' frozen Russian asset in Ukraine 

Lichfield explained on Tuesday that Russian asset freeze obligated foreign banks not to allow for ir transfer back to Russia. In doing so, re would be a penalty of losing ir ability to transact in dollars and euros. Neverless, some of Asian and African banks "may not have felt need to respond to requests for information from Western authorities regarding transactions involving Russia," he said, as reported by Tass. portion of frozen funds however has now gone missing. 

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen proposed creating a special structure in order to manage frozen Russian assets and “invest m.” She noted that ultimate goal is to use those Russian assets confiscated by member states to support reconstruction of Ukraine and compensate for war damages caused by Russian invasion. “We will work on an international agreement with our partners to make this possible. And toger, we can find legal ways to get to it,” von der Leyen h said. US also proposed a provision in 2023 National Defense Authorization Act bill that would enable transfer of Russian assets to Ukraine. Russia, in turn, lambasted West for an asset freeze, labelling it a form of “ft.”