The G7 reaches an agreement to give Ukraine “a large loan” financed with frozen assets to Russia

He G7during the summit held in Apulia, southern Italyhas reached an agreement to provide Ukraine with a loan that will be partly financed by the interest generated by the Russian Central Bank’s assets frozen in the European Union (EU) and especially in Belgium. The loan will be completed 46-50 billion of euros, according to various sources.

The state negotiators, known as ‘sherpas’have already achieved one “provisional” agreement which must still receive formal approval from each of the leaders, although no one is expected to block it. The goal is for the funds to reach Ukraine before the end of the year.

The G7 therefore collectively commits to providing financing to the Kiev Fund, which the G7 states call ‘Extraordinary acceleration of income loans (EPAbecause of the abbreviation in English) for Ukraine’.

Using interests in blocked Russian assets as collateral

However, the government of USA It will be the one to provide most of the money for the loan to Ukraine, using the future interest generated from the Russian assets blocked in Europe as collateral.

There are currently frozen ones all over the world 260 billion euros of Russian central bank funds, most of them in the European Union and especially in Belgium, which were blocked after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The 260 billion euros in frozen Russian assets generate around 3 billion euros a year in profits, but this amount is insufficient to keep Kiev afloat as it would only cover the financing needs of the Ukrainian executive. one month.

For this reason, the G7 has decided to use future interest as collateral for a loan to Ukraine that will be financed mainly by the United States and intended to help Zelensky rebuild his country and buy more guns. Members of the G7 or other interested countries will be able to supplement that fund with their own contributions.