London (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The Russian embassy calls the UK’s transfer of frozen Russian assets to Ukraine a “fraudulent scheme,” accusing Western actions of being illegal.
The Russian embassy in London on 21 Dec 2024 described the UK’s planned transfer to Ukraine of more than 2 billion pounds supported by frozen Russian assets as a “fraudulent scheme“. The G7 affirmed in June it would deliver a $50 billion loan to support Ukraine, serviced by earnings generated by nearly $300 billion in Russian sovereign investments immobilised in the West. The assets were blocked shortly after Russia undertook a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Moscow has repeatedly endangered retaliation to any usage of frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine, which it defines as illegal.
We are closely observing UK authorities’ efforts sought at executing a fraudulent scheme of appropriating incomes from Russian state assets ‘frozen’ in the European Union,
the Russian embassy in London expressed, as reported by Reuters.
The embassy further said:
The elaborate legislative choreography fails to suppress the illegitimate nature of this agreement.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry last week defined the U.S. transfer to Ukraine of its allocation of the G7’s $50 billion in loans as “simply robbery.”
How will UK aid G7 loans support Ukraine’s military needs?
In Oct 2024, the UK said that it would lend Kyiv 2.26 billion pounds as a portion of a much larger loan from the Group of Seven countries supported by frozen Russian central bank assets to support buying weapons and reconstructing damaged infrastructure. The loans were approved in July by heads of the G7 – Canada, UK, France, Italy, Germany, Japan and the U.S. – along with leading officials from the European Union, where most of the Russian investments frozen as a consequence of the war are kept.
British Defence Minister John Healey expressed the money would be only for Ukraine’s military and could be utilised to help develop drones adept at travelling further than some long-range missiles.
Healey expressed the usage of Britain’s share of the G7 loan had been a component of conversations between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Prime Minister Keir Starmer in discussions in London. Questioned if Britain would permit Ukraine to use the money to purchase British-made Storm Shadow missiles to strike targets deep inside Moscow, Healey briefed reporters: “They are evolving very heavily the usage of even longer-range drones. They will operate with us over how they utilise this money, and on the weapons they most need.”
