Russia's gold and foreign currency reserves, frozen due to international sanctions, are lost for good. Ukraine wants the blocked funds to go to the fund for the restoration of our country after the war.
This was said by the presidential adviser on economic issues Oleg Ustenko on the air of the "24 channel".
The expert noted that of the $650 billion in reserves that Russia had before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, about $325 billion were frozen in the United States and the European Union.
Ustenko said that our country is actively negotiating to make these funds the first tranche to the Ukraine Recovery Fund after the victory.
"These funds are forever lost to Russia," he explained.
As for the remaining $300 billion in the Russian Federation, half of it is gold. But sanctions were also imposed on it, so Moscow will only be able to sell the precious metal inside its own country, and there isn't much demand for it on the domestic market.
Thus, the expert continued, the account of the RF Central Bank has about $150 billion. The country's leadership may try to use them to try to close debts and probably buy critical imports, Ustenko said.
"But I'm not sure that's what they will do. Russia will try to save those funds. After all, if there is a decrease in foreign exchange reserves, it will mean a sharp sag of the ruble," he added.
Earlier, presidential adviser Oleh Ustenko said that Ukraine may receive about 400bn dollars in seized Russian assets.