G7 Expected To Announce Plan To Provide Ukraine With Billions Using Frozen Russian Assets

The US is pushing to provide a $50 billion loan to Ukraine that will be paid back with interest made on Russian assets

Group of Seven leaders will begin a summit in Italy this Thursday and are expected to announce a plan to set up a fund for Ukraine using interest generated by frozen Russian assets, Nikkei Asia reported on Tuesday.

Earlier reports said the Biden administration was pushing for the EU and other G7 nations to agree to a plan to provide Ukraine with a $50 billion loan that would be paid back over time using income made by Russia’s frozen Central Bank assets.

The US and its allies have frozen approximately $280 billion in Russian Central Bank funds, the vast majority of which are held in Europe. President Biden recently signed a law giving him the power to take the $5 billion in Russian assets held in the US, but the EU doesn’t want to steal all of the Russian assets it’s holding.

Instead, the EU has agreed to a plan to use the interest to provide about $3 billion per year, which Ukraine has said isn’t enough. The US proposal to provide Ukraine with a big loan that would be paid back over time using the profits is seen as a compromise between the two plans.

Whether the G7 nations use all of the Russian assets or just the interest, the move will mark a significant escalation in the economic war against Moscow. Russia has vowed to respond to either plan and is taking steps to prepare to seize US assets as a retaliatory measure.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.