G7 leaders strike deal on using Russian assets to back $50 B loan to Ukraine, says US
By Michael Stratford
BARI, Italy – Group of Seven leaders have reached an agreement on a plan pushed by President Joe Biden to send Ukraine a $50 billion loan backed by the interest from frozen Russian assets, a senior US official said Thursday (13).
The complex deal would resolve months of negotiations among the US and European allies over how to tap the value of some $300 billion of Russia’s sovereign assets that were immobilized in Western financial institutions shortly after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“We have political agreement at the highest levels for this deal to happen,” the senior Biden administration official told reporters, as G7 leaders gathered in Italy.
The deal offers the chance to lock in longer-term funding for Ukraine’s war effort and reconstruction before the November US presidential election.
The leaders will commit to begin disbursing the $50 billion to Ukraine this calendar year, the official said.
Some details still need to be worked out. The US is willing to provide a loan of up to the full $50 billion amount, but the official said some of the money would come from other countries. “The idea here is to share risk,” the official said.
The official said the Biden administration would rely on loan authority it already has through the US Agency for International Development to make the US portion of the loan.
Biden will hold a joint press conference with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later on Thursday.
The G7 communique will make clear that the option to seize assets outright remains on the table, the US official said.
The compromise comes after the US initially was discussing an outright seizure of the sovereign assets parked in Western institutions, but that became a nonstarter for many European leaders concerned about the legality and threat of retaliation from Russia.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who has been rallying support among G7 countries on the issue for months, again made the case for creating a reliable source of financing for Ukraine in a New York Times op-ed Thursday, calling it “urgently” needed.
“As Russia continues to move to a permanent war footing and Ukraine faces a sizable future funding gap, Mr. Putin is betting that he can wait out the coalition until Ukraine runs out of money and bullets,” she wrote.
-politico.com
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