This Means War: US To Target Putin’s Personal $40 Billion Stash

Putin-Gold

This Means War: US To Target Putin’s Personal $40 Billion Stash (ZeroHedge, April 20, 2014):

While the White House has continually threatened further sanctions against Russia for non-de-escalation (even as it un-de-escalates itself), the specifics of the additional sanctions have been sparse. German CEO warnings over blowback from economic sanctions… the “nonsense” of replacing Russian gas with US gasthe Russian warnings of “interdependence” and “boomerangs”… all reduce the West’s arsenal of financial sanctions. But, as The Times of London reports, perhaps the US has found a crucial pain point for Putin – a sanctions regime that would target Putin’s personal wealth, which includes a reported $40 billion stashed in Swiss bank accounts.

As The Hill reports,

The White House on Friday refused to comment on reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s personal wealth could be targeted if the West were to move ahead with additional sanctions over Ukraine.

I’m not going to get into foreshadowing particular individuals or entities that the United States may target,” national security adviser Susan Rice told reporters at the White House. “But let me just say we’ve been clear that there are additional individuals, officials, close associates of senior leadership, oligarchs and those entities that they are associated with that remain very much potential targets of additional sanctions.”

The Times of London reported Friday that the U.S. was preparing a sanctions regime that would target Putin’s personal wealth, which includes a reported $40 billion stashed in Swiss bank accounts.

Putin’s actual holdings are a tightly held secret, and the extent of his holdings are difficult to estimate. But a threat of trying to freeze the Russian president’s personal assets could have played a role in a deal brokered Thursday by foreign ministers from the U.S., Ukraine, Russia and European Union.

Perhaps it is worth remembering Putin’s response from last week’s Q&A

Putin was asked why the US can do whatever it wants and no one punishes them, while attempts are being made to punish Russia.

“The US is certainly one of the world’s leaders. At some point it seemed that it was the only leader and a uni-polar system was in place. Today it appears that is not the case. Everything in the world is interdependent and once you try to punish someone, in the end you will cut off your nose to spite your face,” he said.

Though we are sure Obama and his team have considered all the intended and unintended consequences of any such actions.

Vladimir-Putin1

2 thoughts on “This Means War: US To Target Putin’s Personal $40 Billion Stash”

  1. The Swiss have more leverage than any other country when it comes to secrecy.
    If they exposed any members account, it would create a run.
    Could that be the final plan to cover up the inevitable collapse?

    Reply
  2. Someone just asked me a few minutes ago if the US would start WW3, and my reply was that it would if it could get any backing from anyone else. The answer to that is succinctly NO…..that idiot in the white house has tried to start two wars over the last few months without results because the entire world has turned away from the US. If the US is this stupid, the UK, and the rest of the world that benefits from trade with Russia will say NO thanks……it will go to nothing. The Swiss are not that stupid, either. The US can go after their own citizens…..but they cannot go after foreigners in foreign banks…….they have no coalition left.
    More than half the world no longer uses the dollar. The rest of it could stop very easily thanks to electronic currencies…….and the US will collapse, not Putin and not Russia.
    This impotent fool in the white house is a joke, he cannot get a jobs bill passed. Even south America has come out clearly against US aggression.
    The days of Rome 20th century style are behind us. The only ones that don’t seem to realize it are the fools in Washington.
    Nobody can wage a war without a coalition………and the US cannot even get Israel to move against Putin………The US no longer is the world standard currency because it has become obsolete, and they abused the power it gave them.
    Forget it. It will go nowhere.

    Reply

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.