Europe has possession of some €210 billion in frozen Russian assets. Europe has maintained possession of this money, and the interest earned on the money, since the beginning of the war.
Putin has called the seizure of the money to be illegal and against international law. The Europeans holding the money have paid no attention to his claims.
However, now Trump is asking the European nations to unfreeze and return the money to Russia His argument is that the return of the money would help kickstart negotiations once again.
Again, Trump is wrong.
I returned the money, would only provide additional financing for Russia for a period of time The whole purpose of sanctions has been to prevent Russia from being able to finance its war against Ukraine. So far, it has been very successful.
Trump’s proposal would undo several years of study and careful planning that is now yielding results. Trump still does not have an accurate view of his opponent.
Russia and Putin will not respond as other nations respond. They would only see the return of the money as a sign of weakness in the US and Europe. The return of the money would actually lessen the chance of negotiations commencing.
Trump needs to learn that the only way to get Russia to the negotiating table is to keep the pressure on. When and only when Russia is about to lose the ability to fight this war, will she come to the negotiating table.
Russia is not at that point yet. But, she is getting there.
If Trump truly is interested in ending the war, he will ratchet up the pressure by increasing the sanctions against Russia and increasing the arms flowing from the United States to Ukraine.
This will increase the pressure on Russia. This will bring Russia to the negotiating table.
quora.com
