U.S. and France Reach Agreement on Using Frozen Russian Assets to Aid Ukraine

In a meeting held on Sunday, U.S. President Joe Biden announced that he had come to an agreement with French President Emmanuel Macron regarding the use of profits from frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine. When asked if the two leaders had reached an agreement on the issue, Biden affirmed with a "Yes and yes."

Financial Support Plan

The Group of Seven nations and the European Union are in talks to utilize the profits generated by Russian assets immobilized in the West to provide Ukraine with a substantial upfront loan, securing Kyiv's financing up to 2025.

Approximately 260 billion euros ($280.9 billion) of Russian central bank funds are currently frozen globally, with the majority located in the EU. These funds yield an annual profit ranging from 2.5 billion to 3.5 billion euros, which the EU argues is not contractually owed to Russia and therefore presents an unexpected gain.

The proposal, spearheaded by the U.S., aims to use these profits as a consistent revenue source to service a sizable market-raised loan of $50 billion. However, Russia has expressed opposition, stating that any diversion of the profits from its frozen funds would be deemed as theft.

While there are concerns from certain countries regarding the use of profits from Russian assets, a U.S. Treasury official disclosed that the United States and its G7 partners were making headway on this initiative.