White House to announce steps for frozen Russian assets at G7 summit

Washington DC - The White House said Tuesday that steps to aid Ukraine using frozen Russian assets will be announced during this week's G7 summit in Italy, as well as new sanctions and export controls on Moscow.

President Joe Biden (r.) and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky (l.) will hold a bilateral meeting followed by a joint press conference in Italy on Thursday, Kirby said.
President Joe Biden (r.) and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky (l.) will hold a bilateral meeting followed by a joint press conference in Italy on Thursday, Kirby said.  © MANDEL NGAN / AFP

"We will announce new steps to unlock the value of the immobilized Russian sovereign assets to benefit Ukraine," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told journalists.

"I think you're going to see unanimity here at the G7 when it comes to working towards using these frozen assets to help Ukraine with their reconstruction," he said.

G7 leaders hope to agree on a deal on using the profits from the interest on $325 billion of frozen Russian central bank assets to help Kyiv, with the idea being to use the profits as collateral for a loan of up to $50 billion.

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Kirby also said that "an impactful set of new sanctions and export control actions" will be announced, without providing specifics.

President Joe Biden and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky will hold a bilateral meeting followed by a joint press conference in Italy on Thursday, Kirby said

G7 members will also discuss China's "support for the Russian defense industrial base, and we will confront China's non-market policies that are leading to harmful global spillovers," he added.

Cover photo: MANDEL NGAN / AFP

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