The economic lifeline is expected to be disbursed by the end of the year.
The Group of 7 nations finalized a plan to give Ukraine a $50 billion loan using Russia’s frozen central bank assets, Biden administration officials said on Wednesday.
The loan represents an extraordinary maneuver by Western nations to essentially force Russia to pay for the damage it is inflicting on Ukraine through a war that shows no sign of ending.
“These loans will support the people of Ukraine as they defend and rebuild their country,” President Biden said in a statement. “And our efforts make it clear: Tyrants will be responsible for the damages they cause.”
The announcement comes after months of debate and negotiation among policymakers in the United States and Europe over how they could use $300 billion of frozen Russian central bank assets to support Ukraine.
The United States and the European Union enacted sanctions to freeze Russia’s central bank assets, most of which are held in Europe, after its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. As the war dragged on, officials in the United States pushed for the funds to be seized and given directly to Ukraine to aid in its economic recovery.
European officials had concerns about the lawfulness of such a move, however, and both sides eventually agreed over the summer that they would use the interest that the assets were earning to back a $50 billion loan.
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Source: Economy - nytimes.com
