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Military operation in Ukraine

US, EU discuss next steps towards loans to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets

According to the statement, Yellen and Gentiloni met on the sidelines of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

WASHNGTON, July 26. /TASS/. US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen and European Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni have discussed "next steps" towards providing Ukraine with loans using immobilized Russian sovereign assets, the US Department of the Treasury said in a statement.

According to the statement, Yellen and Gentiloni met on the sidelines of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

"The Secretary and Commissioner discussed next steps in following through the commitment made by G7 Leaders in Apulia to <…> unlock the value of immobilized Russian sovereign assets to support Ukraine," the statement says.

Another written statement says that Yellen also met with Italian Minister of Economy and Finance Giancarlo Giorgetti on the sidelines of the G20 event.

"Secretary Yellen expressed the need to continue working with the European Union and the rest of the G7 to bolster sanctions regimes that curb Russia’s ability to wage its <…> [special military operation] in Ukraine," the department said in a statement.

Also, Yellen and Giorgetti "exchanged views on Chinese excess industrial capacity," which, as the Department of the Treasury claims, "has the potential for global spillovers and price distortion."

G7 leaders at a summit in Italy on June 13 reached an agreement to allocate $50 billion to Ukraine from profits from frozen Russian assets until the end of 2024.

The European Union, Canada, the United States and Japan froze Russia's assets in the amount of about $300 billion after the start of the special military operation. Of these, about $5-6 billion are located in the United States, and most of them are in Europe, including on the international Euroclear site in Belgium (where $210 billion is stored).

As Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated earlier, Moscow will immediately take retaliatory steps to the confiscation of its assets in the West. She called the West's intentions to use proceeds from frozen Russian assets in favor of Ukraine cynical and criminal.

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