Tapping Russian funds for Kiev perpetuates the war – financial expert to RT (VIDEO)
The EU’s plan to tap profits from frozen Russian assets to buy arms for Ukraine is benefiting Western weapons producers and not the people of the country, Hong Kong-based financial consultant Angelo Giuliano has told RT.
Brussels intends to spend some $1.5 billion generated by Russian national wealth to procure military equipment and munitions for Kiev and bolster the Ukrainian defense industry, foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced on Monday. The goal is to do so “in the swiftest possible manner for the benefit of Ukraine,” he said.
”It’s not for the sake of Ukraine, for the wellbeing of Ukraine to reconstruct. It’s for the profit of the military industrial complex, which wants to perpetuate this war,” Giuliano responded in an interview on Tuesday.
The entire conflict is not so much about Ukraine as it is about trying to hurt and potentially balkanize Russia, which is what globalist elites want, he believes. Lining the pockets of the arms makers is an extra benefit, he said.
In a sense, the refusal of Western nations to repay the money that was lent to them by Russia through purchase of their bonds was a default on debt, the expert added. This hurts the financial credibility of the US and its allies in the long term and unnerves foreign creditors.
”Many countries will think twice before they actually lend money to those countries, because they see the example,” he said.
Russia considers the immobilization of its sovereign funds illegal. It has warned that it will retaliate against the West for any attempt to “steal” its money.
The EU has rejected calls by Kiev and Washington to tap the Russian assets themselves, but applied a windfall tax on profits from them. Brussels reportedly used a legal loophole to circumvent Hungary, a critic of its Ukraine policy, when it decided how the $1.5 billion should be spent.
There is concern that Budapest, which was angered by the news, may oppose continued freezing of the Russian money the next time the EU needs to prolong it, which requires unanimity among members of the economic bloc.
