Kyiv will need more money from the West — and the West will have to provide. The need is clear, but the will, in the United States and Europe, less so. Thankfully there is a way around this looming problem, courtesy of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.

Representative Stephanie Bice of Oklahoma has submitted the Make Russia Pay Act, which authorizes the federal government to seize, deem as forfeited, and liquidate Russian assets that are currently frozen in the US. Bice says, “At the start of the invasion, the Russian Central Bank had about $100 billion in U.S. dollars… My legislation would provide at least this amount of funding for Ukraine.” She continues, “[It] essentially acts as a Marshall Plan and is a fiscally responsible way for the United States to take action against the Russian war machine and hold Putin and his oligarchs accountable.”

[It sounds great in principle, but has repercussions in practice. What this does is set incentives for other nations to invest elsewhere by creating a risk of political seizure as a form of foreign policy. We are already feeling pressure from China about the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency, and this will likely push it past the breaking point. Let’s not let a short-term goal undermine our long-term interests. It’s sufficient to keep those assets frozen. — Ed]