Can the United States Seize Russian Frozen Assets to Aid Ukraine?
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 3 January 2023
⏱️ 62 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As Russia's unlawful war of aggression continues to inflict untold devastation on Ukraine, policymakers have begun to search for ways to support Ukraine's beleaguered economy and fund its eventual reconstruction. Their attention has turned to the billions of dollars in assets that the United States has frozen as part of its robust sanctions against the Kremlin. But as policymakers attempt to make some of these assets available to Ukraine, it begs the question: Under what legal authority can the United States seize these Russian frozen assets?
Lawfare senior editor Scott R. Anderson and Chimène Keitner, Alfred & Hanna Fromm Professor of International & Comparative Law at the University of California Hastings College of the Law, wrote a piece for Lawfare titled, “The Legal Challenges Presented by Seizing Frozen Russian Assets,” where they explain the core legal issues that U.S. policymakers need to consider as they weigh whether and how to move forward with seizing any frozen Russian-related assets. Lawfare legal fellow Saraphin Dhanani sat down with Scott to discuss all of this, as well as to get Scott's take on how the U.S. might move forward in its efforts to support Ukraine using Russian assets, notwithstanding, of course, the many legal constraints it faces.
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The following podcast contains advertising. |
| 0:04.0 | To access an ad-free version of the LawFair podcast, |
| 0:08.0 | become a material supporter of LawFair at patreon.com slash law fair. |
| 0:14.0 | That's patreon.com slash law fair. |
| 0:18.0 | Also, check out LawFair's other podcast offerings, |
| 0:22.0 | rational security, chatter, law fair no bull, and the aftermath. |
| 0:29.0 | The actual entities that control the bulk of the assets we're talking about here, |
| 0:37.0 | very well might be entitled to do process rights. |
| 0:40.0 | You'd have to do an analysis of the Russian Central Bank |
| 0:43.0 | and how it fits within the legal standard and how it's been applied. |
| 0:47.0 | I'm Sarah Fintonani, legal fellow of LawFair, |
| 0:50.0 | and this is the LawFair podcast, January 3rd, 2023. |
| 0:56.0 | As Russia's unlawful war of aggression continues to inflict untold devastation on Ukraine, |
| 1:03.0 | policymakers have begun to search for ways to support Ukraine's beleaguered economy |
| 1:08.0 | and fund its eventual reconstruction. |
| 1:11.0 | Their attention has turned to the billions of dollars in assets |
| 1:15.0 | that the United States has frozen as part of its robust sanctions against the Kremlin. |
| 1:20.0 | But as policymakers attempt to make some of these assets available to Ukraine, |
| 1:25.0 | it begs the question, under what legal authority can the United States |
| 1:30.0 | seize these Russian frozen assets? |
| 1:33.0 | Our very own Scott Anderson, senior editor at LawFair, |
| 1:36.0 | along with Schumann Keitner, Alfred and Hannah from Professor of International and Comparative Law |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Lawfare Institute, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Lawfare Institute and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.