50 billion dollars by the end of 2024 for Ukraine: the G7 leaders meeting in Italy reached a “political agreement” this Thursday, June 13, on the use of frozen Russian assets to unlock a mega-loan for kyiv, a White House official said.
“We have a political agreement at the highest level […] and $50 billion will be spent on Ukraine,” said a senior US administration official on condition of anonymity.
This $50 billion loan for kyiv will be guaranteed by future interest earned on fixed Russian assets, which amount to 300 billion euros generating up to three billion euros in revenue per year. The United States is “willing to lend up to $50 billion to ensure the $50 billion target is met, but there will be other lenders, meaning the true US figure is lower,” he said. he explained.
“A solidarity loan”
“This is a solidarity loan,” he stressed. “We’re going to share the risk, because we share the commitment to get this done.” The share of each country in this loan is not yet known. “I am not going to speak for the other delegations, it is up to them to say whether they will contribute,” he added.
After advocating a pure and simple confiscation of Russian assets, which was legally risky, the United States agreed with the European position of using only the interest generated by the frozen assets. These assets are mainly found in the European Union: around 185 billion euros were frozen by Euroclear, an international fund deposit organization established in Belgium. This gives preponderant weight to Europe over the use of Russian assets. The rest is mainly shared between the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.
Faced with the prospect of a return to the White House of Donald Trump and the uncertainty surrounding the consequences of his election for Ukraine, the heads of state and government of the G7, which include the main military supporters and financial backers of Ukraine since the Russian invasion of February 2022, want to secure the financing of aid to Ukraine.