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EUROPE’S POWERFUL TOOL AGAINST RUSSIA  
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Andrew Kosenko, Joseph E. Stiglitz
March 4, 2025
Project Syndicate
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_ If European leaders want to follow through on their statements in
support of Ukraine following America’s betrayal of the country, they
must seize the moment by seizing Russia’s assets. _

, Justin Tallis/Getty Images

 

NEW YORK – It is now clear that US President Donald Trump’s
administration will betray Ukraine in its fight to resist Russian
aggression. Trump himself is either a victim of disinformation, or he
is a willing participant in an effort to deceive Americans about the
causes and consequences of the war.

Trump’s lies include claiming that Ukraine is equally to blame for
the war; that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky doesn’t “have
the cards” to end the conflict on favorable terms; and that Ukraine
could not have defended itself without US help. Yet the whole world
knows that Russia launched an unprovoked invasion, and we all remember
the initial weeks, when Ukrainians valiantly defended an 1,800-mile
front line against a supposedly superior army, long before deliveries
of Western artillery, armored vehicles, and air-defense systems
arrived.

The disgraceful scene in the Oval Office on February 28 highlighted
Trump’s hostility toward Zelensky and fondness for Russian President
Vladimir Putin. Is it just that Trump loves authoritarian figures who
have fulfilled his own ambitions? Or is it that Putin
has _kompromat _on Trump (as was widely suspected during his first
term)?

Whatever the case, Trump rejects the very idea of the rule of law,
because he subordinates it to political interest: the law should be
used when it serves the president’s interests, and ignored when it
does not. Agreements between countries (even those he signed) can be
broken at will. The United States, together with the United Kingdom
and Russia, promised to defend Ukraine’s territorial integrity 30
years ago, under the Budapest Memorandum
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signed in December 1994. In exchange, Ukraine agreed to give up the
world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal, inherited from the Soviet
Union. Russia violated the agreement when it invaded and illegally
annexed Crimea in 2014, and now Ukraine has been betrayed by two of
the agreement’s parties.

Trump’s refusal to honor America’s word is disgraceful. The
Ukrainians upheld their end of the bargain, and they expected the US
to do the same. These betrayals have deadly implications, and not only
for Ukraine. For decades, Europe’s own security has relied on
Article 5 of the NATO treaty, according to which an attack on one
member is an attack on all. Yet it is now obvious that the US will
defend Europe only if doing so serves what Trump believes are his
interests. International law and treaty obligations mean nothing to
him, just as they mean nothing to Putin.

Europeans are coming to terms with these harsh realities. The most
immediate tasks are to create a self-sufficient defense force and to
decide what to do with the $220 billion in Russian sovereign assets
(out of the $300-350 billion immobilized in 2022) currently held in
European jurisdictions. In June 2024, the G7 agreed to use the
interest ($50 billion) from these assets to provide financial aid to
Ukraine, and the European Commission made the first disbursement
of $3 billion
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January 2025. But with the US likely to end its own financial
assistance, this half-measure is no longer sufficient. Europe must go
further by seizing all the Russian assets under its control.

We previously argued
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these assets should be used to fund Ukraine’s reconstruction, since
the damage caused by Russian aggression far exceeds $220 billion. But
the money is needed even more urgently now. One cannot rebuild a
country that is still under attack and partial occupation. Justice and
common sense dictate that these resources go to fund Ukraine’s
defense. Europe can use whatever legal maneuvers it needs; what
matters is that Ukraine receives the money immediately, so that it can
purchase military equipment and repair the infrastructure that Russia
is continually destroying.

There can be no question of liability. Russia should not be allowed to
claim that the assets are legally protected at a time when it is
shredding the rule of law and freely confiscating Western assets
within its own jurisdiction. Moreover, making the funds immediately
available to Ukraine would be in Europe’s own interest. Whatever
Ukraine spends on its defense industry will ultimately strengthen
Europe’s own defense capacity and stimulate its faltering economy.

There is no time to waste. Using the funds as collateral for a future
International Claims Commission, as has been proposed, would cause
unacceptable delays. The tide of authoritarianism is rising, and
Europe has become the world’s xxxxxx against it. European values
– and the defense of civil liberties, democracy, and human rights
globally – are on the line.

As French President Emmanuel Macron
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it
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“Europe should rediscover the taste of risk, of ambition, and of
power.” If he and other European leaders want to follow through on
their rhetorical support of Ukraine following the Oval Office debacle,
they must seize the moment, which means seizing Russia’s assets.
Ukraine is defending all of Europe. Europe must not hide behind
legalistic excuses.

_[xxxxxx MODERATOR: ALSO OF INTEREST -_

_HOW NOT TO END THE WAR IN UKRAINE
[[link removed]] BY
TETIANA KYSELOVA AND YUNA POTOMKINA, MARCH 1, 2025]_

_ANDREW KOSENKO is Assistant Professor of Economics at the School of
Management at Marist College._

_JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ, a Nobel laureate in economics and University
Professor at Columbia University, is a former chief economist of the
World Bank (1997-2000), former chair of the US President’s Council
of Economic Advisers, former co-chair of the High-Level Commission on
Carbon Prices, and lead author of the 1995 IPCC Climate Assessment. He
is Co-Chair of the Independent Commission for the Reform of
International Corporate Taxation and the author, most recently,
of The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society (W. W. Norton
& Company
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Lane
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2024)._

_PROJECT SYNDICATE produces and delivers original, high-quality
commentaries to a global audience. Featuring exclusive contributions
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500 media outlets – more than half of which receive our commentaries
for free or at subsidized rates – in 156 countries._

_Subscribe to Project Syndicate
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