Rishi Sunak said: “We must be even bolder in seizing hundreds of billions of frozen Russian assets.”
London:
British Prime Minister Sunak on Sunday urged the West to be “bolder” in seizing Russian assets and remitting interest accrued on frozen funds to Ukraine.
On the second anniversary of Moscow’s invasion, the British leader said Western allies must impose “further” sanctions to “shake” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s belief “that he can simply wait for us to leave”.
“We must be bolder in seizing hundreds of billions of frozen Russian assets,” Sunak said in an article in The Sunday Times.
“The first is to take the billions of dollars in interest collected on these assets and send it to Ukraine.
“Then we have to work with the G7 to find legal ways to seize those assets and move those funds to Ukraine as well.”
The prime minister’s comments came after G7 leaders pledged on Saturday to explore “all possible ways to use fixed Russian sovereign assets to support Ukraine.”
The G7 leaders said in a statement that any action must be “consistent with our respective legal systems and international law.”
The advanced economies group confirmed that sovereign assets seized by Russia will remain frozen “until Russia pays for the damage it has caused to Ukraine.”
The Western collective also welcomed the EU’s preliminary deal last month to use profits from the funds to help pay for Ukraine’s reconstruction as a first step.
“We…encourage further steps to use them consistent with applicable contractual obligations and applicable law,” the G7 leaders said.
The World Bank, the European Union, the United Nations and the Ukrainian government said in a joint report earlier this month that Ukraine needs nearly $5 trillion to pay for reconstruction costs from Russia’s invasion.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmigal said most of the costs should be borne by confiscated Russian assets.
Kiev wants the West to unfreeze some $300 billion in frozen Russian assets to fund the reconstruction of cities, roads, bridges and energy facilities destroyed or damaged by two years of Russian attacks.
Britain has become increasingly outspoken in its support of its stance, with Foreign Secretary David Cameron insisting at the World Economic Forum last month that there were legal, moral and political justifications for such action.
“We should be prepared to do some innovative thinking about how to use these resources to help Ukraine,” he was reported to have said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
