As Europe mobilizes behind Ukraine, it's sitting on a $218 billion ace card — and it's being urged to play it
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00:00With the news that the US is pausing its military funding to Ukraine,
00:03there's enormous pressure on Europe to step up even more.
00:06But it does have one possible ace card, more than $200 billion of Russian assets
00:11frozen in the European banking system.
00:14The funds were frozen after the 2022 invasion.
00:17They're being held as a means to make Russia pay for Ukraine's reconstruction in peacetime.
00:22So far, nobody's touched it.
00:24The most EU leaders have done is give Ukraine loans backed by some of the interest it generates.
00:28But with signs that the US is going to stop funding Ukraine altogether,
00:32calls to actually seize the cash and use it to fund Ukraine's defence have grown.
00:36Most recently, former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called for the move,
00:40along with Poland, Finland and the Baltic states.
00:42Some analysts are cautious, warning that this could spook other countries
00:45who hold assets with the EU, destabilising markets.
00:48There's also some debate about whether it's better to hold onto the cash
00:52as leverage for future peace talks with Russia.
00:54Then there's the legal side of things.
00:56Normally, a country's assets are protected from being seized by others.
00:59But some legal experts have argued, as top lawyer Paul Reichler did in Congress last year,
01:04that this protection doesn't apply when a country's actions are, quote,
01:08egregiously wrongful.
01:09Some campaigners believe that handing the money to Ukraine would strike a psychological blow
01:14to Russia at a time when its economy and its labour force are teetering.
01:17Big question, though, is whether Western leaders will actually go through with it.