US opposes EU plan to use Russian assets for Ukraine

The US is opposing the European Union's plan to expand the use of frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine by the "Group of Seven" (G-7), Bloomberg sources reported, quoted by Focus.

American officials told their European counterparts that the US would not join this initiative for now during negotiations on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund meeting in Washington last week, the agency's sources said.

One of the sources added that the US had cited risks to market stability as the reason for its unwillingness. Another source said that for now the US is simply not making any commitments.

"This move is a setback for the EU, which tried to attract the other G7 countries to its plan to use frozen central bank assets as collateral to attract loans of up to 140 billion euros ($160 billion) for Ukraine. The European Commission, the bloc's executive body, is preparing a detailed draft of the mechanism but will not publish it until EU leaders give their consent, which is likely to happen at a summit in Brussels later this week, the agency said.

For their part, European officials are disappointed that the United States has abandoned the plan at a stage when it is already advanced, as the Trump administration has previously called on the EU to use more Russian funds.

"Although the amount of assets stored in the United States is minimal, US support for the EU plan would be a positive signal to other countries. Within the G7, Britain and Canada support the European initiative, while Japan is seen as joining the United States in a more cautious approach".