JRL NEWSWATCH: “IMF warns that any action on Russian assets needs ‘sufficient legal support'” – Reuters
“… IMF First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath … said decisions about what to do with [Russian] assets rested solely with countries holding them. She declined to offer an opinion on how they should be used. Gopinath said the IMF would evaluate the impact of any decisions … but the IMF would not be involved in the decisions. … [S]he said it was important to ‘make sure that whatever you’re doing has sufficient legal support … so that you don’t end up with risks down the line.’ … The United States, [EU] and other [G7] advanced economies have been wrestling with how best to utilize frozen Russian assets to help support Ukraine …. After … Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, the United States and its allies prohibited transactions with Russia’s central bank and finance ministry, blocking around $300 billion of sovereign Russian assets in the West. …”