Foreign Affairs

But maybe they need to do that to make it appear legal. I assume the term "immobilize" has some special meaning, as opposed to "impound". Maybe their legal position will be that it is still technically Russia's money, but they are "immobilizing" the accounts and to prevent Russia from accessing them. They won't give the money directly to Ukraine because it will still officially be in the Russian account, but they will give Ukraine full use of the money through loans. And when the war ends, if Ukraine isn't able to pay back those loans, well, Vlad, you lose.

It is a double whammy. Lot only does Russia lose the money, but Ukraine gets badly needed funding. $300 billion can buy a lot of long-range missiles to continue to wreck the Russian economy.

And actually it is a triple whammy because Trump tried to bully the EU into giving that money back to Putin. Some much winning Trump is doing these days.