The Group of Seven (G7) countries will agree by October on the terms of granting Ukraine a $50bn loan at the expense of Russian assets frozen in the West, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Reuters. This was stated by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in a conversation with Reuters.
“We’ve had constructive talks here. We’re working closely together to move this initiative forward. I think things are looking good in terms of being able to get it done, probably by October,” the secretary said on the sidelines of a meeting of Group of Twenty (G20) finance chiefs and central bankers in Rio de Janeiro.
Yellen added that Washington is seeking guarantees from Europe that Russian assets will remain frozen for a long time.
The United States, the European Union, Canada and Japan froze about $300 billion in Russian assets after Moscow unleashed a full-scale war in Ukraine. Of this amount, only about $5-6bn are in the United States, while most of it is in Europe. The European Commission in May approved a proposal to use proceeds from blocked Russian funds to help the Ukrainian side. In June, at a summit in Italy, the G7 leaders reached an agreement to allocate $50 billion to Kiev at the expense of profits from frozen Russian assets by the end of 2024.
On July 23, U.S. President Joe Biden gave the heads of the Treasury Department and the State Department – Janet Yellen and Anthony Blinken – their authority under the “Restoring Economic Prosperity and Opportunity for Ukraine Act,” which provides for the confiscation of Russian assets for their transfer to Kiev.
A day earlier, EU diplomatic chief Josep Borrell announced at a press conference following a meeting of EU foreign ministers that Kiev would receive 1.4bn euros from Europe as part of the first tranche from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets in early August. He emphasized that the EU countries intended to finance Ukraine’s priority arms, including air defense systems and ammunition for artillery. In addition, the EU will allocate funds to support the Ukrainian defense industry.
