UK PM to call on US to provide US$ 20 billion loan to Ukraine before Trump takes office
www.pravda.com.ua
Tue, 12 Nov 2024 09:23:37 +0200
The UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer plans to call on US President Joe Biden to allocate funds for a US20 billion loan to Ukraine as part of a larger G7 loan before Donald Trump takes office.
Source European Pravda The Telegraph Details The UK prime minister is pushing for facetoface talks with Biden, the outgoing US president, when they both attend the G20 summit in Brazil next week.
One of the focuses of Londons lobbying is to ensure that the G7 countries Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US fulfil their promises to provide new loans to Ukraine.
Back in June, the G7 world leaders agreed to provide Kyiv with US50 billion, partly funded by interest received from Russian assets that have been frozen since the Russian fullscale invasion in February 2022.
The US has promised to provide US20 billion of the US50 billion, but these funds have not yet been provided.
Last month, US authorities said that the money was being prepared for disbursement this year.
One UK government official close to the political discussions said that the UK was ready to hold Bidens feet to the fire to deliver on the pledge.
Starmers talks at the G20 summit have not yet been agreed upon or announced, but Downing Street and Foreign Office officials expect a bilateral meeting with Biden to be agreed upon.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy is expected to push for the same arguments for a loan pledge at the G7 foreign ministers meeting in Rome later this month.
Starmer is also expected to say that Ukraine should finally get permission to launch longrange Storm Shadow missiles deep into Russia, which Biden opposes.
Background The European Commission was considering allowing the Belgian depository Euroclear to directly use frozen Russian assets to protect a US50 billion loan to Ukraine from Russian retaliation.
Last week, the G7 finalised the parameters of a US50 billion loan to Ukraine, which was agreed upon at the June summit in Italy.
The contribution from the UK will amount to 2.26 billion, or US2.94 billion.
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