{"id":1444502,"date":"2023-12-18T10:45:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-18T15:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1444502"},"modified":"2023-12-18T10:45:00","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T15:45:00","slug":"g7-closer-to-giving-300bn-in-seized-russian-assets-to-ukraine-after-orban-blocked-eu-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/g7-closer-to-giving-300bn-in-seized-russian-assets-to-ukraine-after-orban-blocked-eu-funds\/1444502\/","title":{"rendered":"G7 Closer To Giving $300BN In Seized Russian Assets To Ukraine After Orban Blocked EU Funds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden\">G7 Closer To Giving $300BN In Seized Russian Assets To Ukraine After Orban Blocked EU Funds<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item\">\n<p>Group of Seven member states are moving closer to approving a controversial plan that would funnel some $300 billion of Russia&#8217;s seized central bank and other sovereign assets (such as some oligarchs&#8217; superyachts) which have been &#8220;immobilized&#8221; in Europe to give to Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;G7 members and other specially affected states <strong>could seize Russian sovereign assets as a countermeasure to induce Russia to end its aggression<\/strong>,&#8221; a US policy paper being considered by the G7 states.<\/p>\n<p>The<em> Financial Times<\/em> aptly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/918645f8-e0b6-4cab-92fa-4f965569c2a6\">described<\/a> the proposal as constituting &#8220;a radical step that would open a new chapter in the west\u2019s financial warfare against Moscow&#8221; &#8211; also as certainly Moscow would see it as brazen theft.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cms.zerohedge.com\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/orban%20and%20zelnky.jpg?itok=quBJrXTc\"><em>Getty Images<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p>While neither the White House nor US Treasury has openly affirmed that this is the US stance, the FT noted US officials are actively engaging G7 countries to see it through.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;A US official said Washington was engaged in active conversations on the use of Russian sovereign assets and believed there was a short timeline to make a decision,&#8221; FT details. &#8220;They suggested it could be discussed at a possible G7 leaders\u2019 meeting <strong>to coincide with the second anniversary in February of Russia\u2019s full invasion of Ukraine<\/strong>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It seems war fatigue and a sudden slowdown in funding for Kiev has prompted Washington and G7 partners to &#8220;get creative&#8221;. Two things happened this past week, which was certainly a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/086d90c4-f68f-466f-99fc-f38f67eb59df?segmentId=b0d7e653-3467-12ab-c0f0-77e4424cdb4c\">&#8220;bitter week of disappointment&#8221;<\/a> for Zelensky&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Republicans in Congress have blocked Biden&#8217;s efforts to get an over one hundred billion foreign defense aid package pass.<br \/>\n\tHungary&#8217;s\u00a0Viktor Orb\u00e1n blocked an EU funding package for Ukraine worth \u20ac50bn ($54bn), which came the same day Hungary abstained from a vote on starting formal EU membership talks for Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>Orban had written on social media: &#8220;Summary of the nightshift: <strong>veto for the extra money to Ukraine<\/strong>.&#8221; He had for weeks promised to also block the start of EU accession talks, so it seems blocking the funds was an effort to show his supporters he didn&#8217;t back down (completely).<\/p>\n<p>Putin meanwhile on Thursday had mocked the whole situation, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2023\/12\/17\/ukraine-aid-politics-republicans-johnson-trump\/\">telling Ukraine<\/a> that its<strong>\u00a0Western &#8220;freebies&#8221; were running out<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><em>Meanwhile, further quid pro quo might eventually serve to unblock the EU funds for Ukraine&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Hungary&#8217;s prime minister Viktor Orban told the EU summit he would consider lifting his veto on providing further funds to Ukraine if the remaining frozen funds linked to rule of law concerns are unblocked <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/MFF?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#MFF<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/EUCO?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#EUCO<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/oL4vfKqauG\">https:\/\/t.co\/oL4vfKqauG<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 EUobserver (@euobs) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/euobs\/status\/1735635823830188529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 15, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ukraine reportedly needs to EU funds in order to keep basic state services afloat, including paying teachers, civic workers, and maintaining pensions &#8211; among other things.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>      <span class=\"field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden\"><a title=\"View user profile.\" href=\"https:\/\/cms.zerohedge.com\/users\/tyler-durden\" class=\"username\">Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden\">Mon, 12\/18\/2023 &#8211; 05:45<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u200b<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/geopolitical\/g7-closer-giving-300bn-seized-russian-assets-tor-ukraine-after-orban-blocked-eu-funds\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/geopolitical\/g7-closer-giving-300bn-seized-russian-assets-tor-ukraine-after-orban-blocked-eu-funds<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>G7 Closer To Giving $300BN In Seized Russian Assets To Ukraine After Orban Blocked EU Funds Group of Seven member states are moving closer to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1444502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1444502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1444502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1444502\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1444502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1444502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1444502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}