Thursday Briefing

President Biden leaving Delaware yesterday for the Group of 7 summit in Italy.Credit…Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times

At G7, Biden will push to use Russian assets for Ukraine

For two years, Western allies have debated how to deal with $300 billion in frozen Russian assets. The G7 leaders, who will meet beginning today in Italy, seem to be on the brink of announcing a compromise.

European leaders feared that seizing the assets would violate international law. So the Biden administration devised a plan to use the interest generated by them to back a loan that could be delivered immediately to Ukraine.

The loan could be as large as $50 billion and would be repaid over time with the profits being generated from Russia’s money, Western officials said.

The leaders are also expected to discuss the question of how to stop China from bolstering Russia by selling it “dual use” microelectronics and other gear to rebuild its military. The Biden administration announced yesterday that it would add sanctions aimed at stopping China from helping the Kremlin in its invasion of Ukraine.

In related news, Ukraine plans to auction about 20 state-owned companies to fund its war effort and help its economy.