Putin signs decree allowing seizure of Americans’ assets if US confiscates Russian holdings

By The Associated Press

President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree allowing Russia to confiscate U.S. assets to compensate for any Russian assets confiscated in the United States. The decree was published Thursday as top finance officials from the Group of Seven nations began a meeting at which the question of what to do with Russian assets frozen in the West is at the top of the agenda. Ukraine and many of its supporters have called for the confiscation of $260 billion in Russian assets frozen outside the country after Russia’s invasion. But European officials have resisted. However, President Joe Biden in April signed a law allowing the administration to seize the roughly $5 billion in Russian state assets located in the U.S.