Leaders from the world’s leading democracies came to an agreement Thursday to use frozen Russian assets to help provide Ukraine with some $50 billion over the next year in its ongoing war with Russia.
The agreement, which comes after months of intense diplomacy, was one of the top goals of the Group of Seven leaders
The use of Russian assets, which involves a complex mechanism to provide a loan with the seized assets as collateral, marked a victory for Biden and other leaders who had been hoping to use the summit to send a strong signal of support for Ukraine at a precarious moment in
the war.
“This has been something that the United States has put a lot of energy and effort into,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters. “We see proceeds from these assets as a valuable source of resources for Ukraine at a moment when Russia continues to brutalize the country, not just through military action on the front but through the attempted destruction of its energy grid and its economic vitality.”
Sullivan credited Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s hard-right prime minister and host of this year’s G-7 summit, for navigating the thorny disputes among countries over the plan’s technical details.
“The Italian presidency I think has done a really good job bringing everyone together around the table to try to deal with what’s both a simple and complex proposition,” he said. “The simple proposition is, we have to put these assets to work. The complex proposition is, how do we do that specifically? I think we are on the verge of a good outcome here.”
The G-7 consists of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States. These countries have struggled with how to continue supporting Ukraine as its war with Russia bogs down and the public in some nations, including the United States, becomes more skeptical of sending aid to Kyiv.
In addition to Ukraine, the leaders are expected to discuss a U.S.-sponsored cease-fire plan for
Gaza
Still, a reelected Donald Trump or any other future American president could withdraw from the agreement because it is not a treaty and would not be ratified by Congress. Trump has expressed skepticism of Ukraine’s battle with Russia and called on Europe to take on more of the burden of financing the war effort.
Trump’s potential return to the White House has hung over the conference here, with the possibility that this could be Biden’s last summit.
That has been a backdrop for one of Biden’s main messages here: the importance of global alliances for America’s interests.
“Every day subsequent to this summit, his goal is going to be to do as much as possible to reinforce the idea that the United States is best served if we are closely aligned with the our democratic allies and partners,” Sullivan said. “The difference between past times when the U.S. has not been aligned and what you’re going to see here in Puglia is something that can actually be measured, in my perspective, in improved American standing in the world.”
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