Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the U.S. and its allies blocked $300-350 billion in sovereign Russian assets, mostly European, U.S., and British government bonds being held in a European securities depository.

Now European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen has suggested the European Union (EU) use the cash balances associated with the Russian assets frozen in Europe to help finance Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s continuing war. And the EC is considering using Russian cash deposits at the European Central Bank from maturing bonds owned by Russia to fund a “Reparations Loan” for Ukraine. [Guy Faulconbridge, Reuters, September 15, 2025.]

At the end of World War II, no one in the Soviet Union complained when Germany — including both the western Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the eastern German Democratic Republic (GDR) — was required to pay reparations to the European allies, including the Soviet Union, that had been decimated by Hitler’s nazi regime.

But in that war, the Soviet Union had fought on the side of the Allied forces when its own country was threatened. This time, it is Vladimir Putin’s Russia that is the aggressor . . . whether they admit it or not. And they’re not happy at the thought of losing all of that beautiful hard currency.

Enter onto the scene Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, and all-around bad boy of the Kremlin. I just call him “The Mouth.”

Best known for his unrestrained, unfiltered, uncontrolled penchant for lobbing threats at the West, he did not disappoint on this occasion. In response to the EC statements, he had this to offer in a post on Telegram:

“If this happens, Russia will pursue the EU states, as well as European degenerates from Brussels and individual EU countries who try to seize our property, until the end of the century . . . [in] all possible ways . . . [and in] all possible international and national courts . . . [as well as] out of court.” [Id.]

Earlier this month, after the UK said it had spent around $1.3 billion of money raised from frozen Russian assets to purchase weapons for Ukraine, Medvedev warned that Russia would take more Ukrainian territory in retaliation, and added that they would also go after British property around the world.

Medvedev was born 20 years after the end of World War II. But surely he has studied the history of that war, and is aware of the reparations paid to his country by Germany, primarily in the form of industrial equipment, goods, raw materials, forced labor, and even scientists. The payments were made in accordance with agreements reached at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences in 1945, and continued until 1953.

But he was very much alive in 2022, when his country staged its unprovoked attack on Ukraine. And he is well aware of the assets left behind in Russia by U.S. and other foreign companies when they withdrew their businesses in protest of that invasion — assets that were then seized, or bought at outrageously devalued prices, by his government.

How conveniently Mr. Medvedev overlooks the facts that don’t suit his purpose. But then, his country’s leaders have always excelled at ignoring and rewriting history.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
9/17/25