OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada and the United States are in full agreement on the pressing need to take action to seize frozen Russian sovereign assets to assist Ukraine, which has recently experienced setbacks on the battlefield, according to Canada’s Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on Tuesday.
Freeland and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will be meeting with their G7 and G20 counterparts in Brazil this week. Earlier on Tuesday, Yellen emphasized that unfreezing the frozen assets was “necessary and urgent.”
Freeland mentioned that she had a lengthy discussion with Yellen over the weekend on this matter.
“She and I are completely on the same page,” Freeland told reporters in Ottawa before departing for Brazil.
“We must, now more than ever, demonstrate to Putin that we are serious, that our support for Ukraine remains steadfast,” she added. “Taking action on the assets of the Russian Central Bank… would demonstrate that we truly have the resources to persevere and continue.”
The issue has gained significance after $61 billion in additional U.S. aid to Ukraine was blocked by the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives.
Freeland acknowledged that some countries had reservations about seizing around $285 billion in Russian assets that were frozen in 2022.
“From the Canadian standpoint, we must put in the effort to address those concerns and push forward,” Freeland remarked.
Yellen also recognized the risks involved but played down worries raised by some in Europe about the potential impact of confiscating Russian assets on the status of the U.S. dollar, euro, or Japanese yen as key global reserve currencies.
The EU and G7 have been discussing for over a year about whether and how these funds can be utilized. Two-thirds of these funds are within the EU, with a large portion held by Belgium’s Euroclear clearing house.
(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee and Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; writing by Steve Scherer; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
