At a meeting of G7 finance ministers, the United States announced that it would reduce its support for Ukraine after the final tranches of the G7 loan agreed by the previous administration are paid, the European edition of Politico reported, citing an EU diplomat.
“During the meeting, the United States announced that it would reduce its support for Ukraine after the final tranches of the G7 loan agreed by the Biden administration are paid“, the newspaper reported.
The G7 countries approved a loan of approximately $50 billion for Ukraine in 2024, financed by proceeds from frozen Russian assets.
As of December 2, the countries had already disbursed $34.8 billion to Ukraine under this scheme, calculations show.
After the start of hostilities in Ukraine, Western countries imposed sanctions on the Central Bank of Russia, freezing its reserves, the exact amount of which is unknown. As of early 2022, the Central Bank reported that approximately half of its $630.6 billion in assets were held in key reserve currencies.
The majority of Russia's frozen assets are held in accounts at Belgium's Euroclear, one of the world's largest clearing and settlement systems. According to Euroclear CEO Valery Urban, as of mid-November, the depository held approximately $209 billion worth of assets belonging to the Central Bank of Russia.
In response, Russia introduced its own restrictions: a ban on withdrawing assets from “hostile“ investors, with the income from them accumulating in special “C“ accounts. Withdrawals are allowed only by decision of a special government commission.
In September, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen offered Kiev a new loan using frozen Russian assets. According to her, Ukraine would repay it only if Russia paid “reparations“. However, there is no consensus within the European Union on this loan.
The Russian Foreign Ministry described these intentions as “theft”, noting that the EU is targeting not only private funds, but also state assets. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow would respond to the seizure of assets by the West. He added that Russia also has the option not to return funds held by Western countries in the country.