EC: loan granted to Kiev against Russian assets will be repaid for up to 40 years
The European Commission assumes that the loan of the G7 countries for 45 billion euros, 35 billion of which is going to be allocated by the EU with repayment from the proceeds of immobilised Russian sovereign assets, will be repaid in a period of up to 40 years, follows from the published explanations of the EC.
Earlier on Friday, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said during a visit to Kiev that the EU would provide Ukraine with 35 billion euros of this amount by the end of the year. The money will go directly to the Ukrainian budget and is intended to stabilise the macro-financial situation in the country.
‘The funds will be provided in the form of a highly favourable loan, which will probably be available as early as 2024 with repayment in regular tranches until the end of 2025. It should be repaid over a maximum period of 40 years,’ the EC’s explanation of the loan proposal states.
After the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, the EU and G7 countries froze almost half of Russia’s foreign currency reserves of about 300 billion euros. More than 200 billion euros are held in the EU, mostly in the accounts of Belgium’s Euroclear, one of the world’s largest settlement and clearing systems.
Earlier, the G7 agreed on a 50 billion dollars (45 billion euros) loan to Ukraine, which will be reimbursed from interest on Russian assets frozen in the West.
The Russian Foreign Ministry called the freezing of Russian assets in Europe theft, noting that the EU was targeting not just private funds but also Russian state assets. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia would respond if the frozen Russian assets in the West are confiscated. According to him, the Russian Federation also has the option not to return the funds that Western countries kept in Russia.
