The G7 countries released a statement in which they noted: “We confirm that the sovereign assets of the Russian Federation in our jurisdictions will remain immobilized until the Russian Federation pays for the damages it has caused to Ukraine.”
The signatories of the statement welcomed the EU’s decision to adopt a mechanism for storing the income generated by these assets and encouraged “further steps to allow their use.”
International banks, seeking to avoid legal problems, are communicating with Britain to establish certain legal principles before transferring frozen Russian funds to Ukraine. The total amount of frozen Russian money in Britain is unknown but is said to be £26B.
The priority for the banks is some form of legal protection or compensation against any future claims by Russia against individual financial institutions involved in asset confiscation.