Britain and G7 allies have hammered out a deal to use the profits from frozen Russian assets for a $50billion loan for war-torn Ukraine.
Western allies including the US, Germany and Italy would provide cash by the end of the year to shore up Kyiv against Vladimir Putin’s brutal onslaught. The plan would use the massive profits generated from around $285billion in frozen Russian assets to pay back the loan.
Italian PM Giorgia Meloni said: “I confirm to you that we have reached political agreement to provide additional financial support to Ukraine of approximately $50billion by the end of the year.”
“What we’re announcing is a game-changing package of support for Ukraine,” Rishi Sunak told reporters at the G7 summit in Italy. It demonstrates the G7 is completely united and doing whatever it can and whatever it takes to support Ukraine to defend against Russian aggression.”
The PM met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the pair took a walk through the lavish grounds of the summit hotel. But he was forced to deny he had been snubbed by other leaders for one-on-one talks in what could be his last major outing on the world stage as Prime Minister.
Mr Sunak had not so far held individual meetings with other G7 leaders such as US President Joe Biden and France’s Emmanuel Macron.
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AFP via Getty Images)
Asked if he’d been snubbed because they think he’s a loser, Mr Sunak said: “No, I do these all the time over the last 18 months, and particularly at meetings like this you can do lots of meetings with people in the margins of things and that’s exactly what I have been doing.”
He also dodged a question on whether he’d apologised to other leaders for skipping out of the D-Day commemorations early last week.
It comes after Britain announced plans to slap sanctions on Russia’s “shadow ships” in a bid to choke off cash for Vladimir Putin’s war effort. The fleet of tankers, which have obscure or dubious ownership, popped up to evade sanctions and transport Russian oil to global buyers.
The so-called shadow fleet provides a vital stream of funds to the Kremlin to finance its invasion of Ukraine. Tax on oil production collected by the Kremlin in 2023 amounted to 8.9 trillion roubles, or 31% of Russia’s total federal revenues, according to the UK Government.
Mr Sunak said: “The UK will always stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine in its fight for freedom. Today we are once more ramping up economic pressure through sanctions to bear down on Russia’s ability to fund its war machine. Putin must lose, and cutting off his ability to fund a prolonged conflict is absolutely vital.”
Under the crackdown, ships will be blocked from entering British ports and will be stripped of their registration.
The UK unveiled 50 new sanctions to degrade Russia’s war machine, which also include institutions at the heart of Russia’s financial system and suppliers supporting weapons production.
These new sanctions also target suppliers of munitions, machine tools, microelectronics, and logistics to Russia’s military, including entities based in China, Israel, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey, along with ships which transport military goods from North Korea to Russia.
It also includes a crackdown on institutions at the heart of Russia’s financial system, including the Moscow Stock Exchange. This action is taken in coordination with the US, which designated the Moscow Stock Exchange on 12 June.