US Ready to Loan Ukraine $50Bln if EU Extends Anti-Russia Sanctions Indefinitely - Report
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The United States is ready to provide Ukraine with $50 billion in a loan repaid by profits from Russia's frozen assets if the European Union indefinitely extends sanctions against Moscow, The Financial Times has reported, citing a leaked discussion paper.
The report cited an EU discussion paper, prepared for a virtual meeting of the EU finance minister scheduled to take place on Wednesday, as saying that Washington needs Brussels to extend the EU's sanctions on Russia's assets, which expire every six months unless they are renewed by unanimous consent, until the end of the Ukraine conflict to make sure that the debt is repaid. Details of the loan, including maturity, interest rate, whether it would be provided directly or through an intermediary such as the World Bank, is yet to be determined, the report cited the document as saying.
The US considers such a loan to be "conditional" on the EU allocating profits from the assets for repayments and guaranteeing that "Russian central bank assets held in the EU remain immobilised" until Russia has agreed to pay for the damage, the report quoted part of the document as saying.
However, the report said that the approval requires the unanimous consent of all EU leaders, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has been vetoing many sanctions-related decisions.
The US is pushing for an agreement ahead of the G7 Summit scheduled to take place in Italy next week, the report said. The main option that is being considered is reportedly Washington's plan to lend money to Kiev, possibly together with other member states of the G7, roughly matching the estimated "windfall profits" from Russia's frozen assets.
Commenting on the situation concerning Russian frozen assets ( https://sputnikglobe.com/20240223/how-russia-could-respond-to-wests-potential-frozen-asset-seizure-1116939125.html ), Vladimir Putin dubbed the West’s actions "unseemly business," and warned that "stealing other people’s assets has never brought anyone good."
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