agen101 slot U.S. Transfers $20 Billion Loan to Ukraine Backed by Russian Assets
The Biden administration transferred $20 billion to Ukraine on Tuesday, providing an urgently needed economic lifeline in the form of a loan that will be repaid using interest earned from Russia’s frozen central bank assets.
The transfer of the funds comes as Ukraine is facing a period of grave uncertainty with President-elect Donald J. Trump poised to take office next month and Russia’s war continuing unabated.
Mr. Trump and Republicans in Congress are unlikely to continue to provide Ukraine with the same levels of economic and military support as the country received from Democrats and the Biden administration. But the conflict continues, and Ukraine has relied heavily on international aid to keep its economy afloat.
The $20 billion is part of a $50 billion loan that the Group of 7 nations devised and agreed upon earlier this year. The United States and the European Union enacted sanctions to freeze Russia’s central bank assets, most of which are held in Europe, after its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen gathered members of her staff in her large conference room and officials watched as the $20 billion transfer was executed on a laptop from the Treasury Department to the World Bank, which will then disburse it to Ukraine. Ms. Yellen described the loan as one of the most important things that she had been involved with during her time in the job, according to a person who was in the room.
After extended deliberations over how that money could be used to aid Ukraine, officials agreed that they would use the interest that the assets were earning to back a loan. That approach effectively forces Russia to pay for the damage it has caused in Ukraine, and has allowed the United States and Europe to provide aid without putting an additional economic burden on their taxpayers.
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