Russia seeks to shield billions of frozen funds by diverting focus from war in Ukraine

Kirill Dmitriev, Russia’s envoy for economic cooperation with foreign states, is attempting to shield Russia’s frozen assets from punitive measures.

Source: Oleh Ivashchenko, Head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service, as reported by Ukrinform

Quote: "If we take, for example, Russia’s special representative for economic cooperation with foreign states, Kirill Dmitriev, he is lobbying global commerce matters. His main task is to shield Russia’s frozen assets from punitive measures. This is a huge sum for them – US$280 billion.

Dmitriev is trying to tell the United States: ‘let’s not focus solely on war and peace – let’s take a broader view. We have the Arctic, we have oil and gas, we have Siberia with its resources. Do you need rare earth metals? Let’s talk.’ And this results in the Ukrainian issue being blurred, pushed into the background." 

Details: Ivashchenko stressed that in this context, "our task is to ensure that the Ukrainian issue remains at the top of the agenda".

Read more: Officer Dmitriev: how a Kyiv-born financier became the main negotiator between Putin and Trump

Background: Russia expected that a number of US companies would resume operations in the Russian market by the second quarter of 2025.

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