Plans to secure loan with Russian funds ‘moving to happy resolution’, says Polish foreign minister
Plans to secure loan with Russian funds ‘moving to happy resolution’, says Polish foreign minister
European leaders, including in the UK, are increasingly confident a proposal to lend Ukraine €140bn (£159bn) secured on frozen Russian central bank deposits can be agreed by the end of the year, in a move deemed critical for Kyiv to maintain its defence effort.
Proposals from the European Commission were discussed at a meeting of G7 finance ministers in Washington last week and will be debated at an EU leaders summit on Thursday in Brussels. US participation remains uncertain.
Radosław Sikorski, Poland’s foreign minister, said last week he believed “the issue of the use, on behalf of the victim of aggression, of the frozen Russian assets is heading towards a happy resolution”.
He said an agreement was achievable by the end of the year: “It’s very simple, either we use the aggressor’s money or we will have to use our own money. Don’t ask me which I prefer.”
Under the plan – sketched out in a two-page document by the European Commission last month – the EU would give a €140bn interest-free loan to Ukraine based on the Russian frozen assets held at the Euroclear finance agency.
The loan would be made on the basis that Russia would use the frozen assets to cover war reparations when the conflict ends. “What we are proposing is not confiscation,” a senior EU official told reporters earlier this month.
Ukraine has run an annual budget deficit as it has been fighting off the Russian invasion. In the past it has relied on allied governments to support it with extra borrowing.
