Money generated by Russian financial assets frozen in Europe will soon start flowing to Ukraine, giving Kyiv a boost as it struggles to counter an advance by Moscow’s troops. Now, the West is trying to turn that trickle of cash into a flood.
Finance officials from the G7 economies met in Stresa, Italy to discuss new ways of using the proceeds from some €260 billion ($282 billion) of Russia’s foreign currency reserves that were frozen by Western countries after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“Progress has been made … as far as the main issues are concerned,” Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said Saturday during a press conference after the meeting, adding that there are some legal technical issues that still have to be resolved.
There is “strong positioning in terms of a political stance by all the G7 countries,” Giorgetti said.
The G7 meeting comes just weeks after Russia mounted a surprise assault in Ukraine’s northern Kharkiv region. As Russia’s attacks intensify, Western leaders are coming under increasing pressure to deliver military aid to Kyiv’s stretched armed forces.
It is “vital and urgent that we collectively find a way forward to unlock the value of Russian sovereign assets immobilized in our jurisdictions for the benefit of Ukraine,” US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said during a speech Tuesday in Frankfurt, Germany.
The proposal that reportedly has the broadest backing among US and EU officials involves lending as much as $50 billion to Ukraine, using the future windfall profits from Russian assets held in the European Union as collateral.
The plan “would essentially bring forward that flow of interest proceeds from the assets… (through a loan) given to Ukraine,” Yellen told broadcaster Sky News in an interview this week. “Ukraine has substantial needs, and being able to marshal significant resources to help Ukraine is important,” she said.