Yellen dismisses Putin’s claims of loan to Ukraine being “theft”

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says the Group of Seven $50 billion loan to Ukraine financed by the interest off frozen Russian assets is absolutely legal despite Russia’s protest.

The official spoke with ABC News’s This Week, Ukrinform reports citing The Hill.

“There is no sense at all in which it’s theft,” Yellen said in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claims that this “theft” will “not go unpunished.”

“Russia’s funds are sitting in cash, but they’re generating income for the institution, which Russia has no claim on,” Yellen said, “so there’s no legal issue here.”

“And our allies, our partners, the G7 will provide Ukraine a $50 billion loan, which will be repaid over time from these proceeds,” she added. “I’d say the G7 leaders had already made it clear that they will not unfreeze these assets until Russia pays for the damage that it’s caused to Ukraine.

Yellen described the dynamic as a “battle of wills” and said she thinks Putin is waiting on Ukraine’s supporters to give up on the war-torn democracy.

“We’re really in a battle of wills with Putin,” she said. “Putin, I think, believes that our coalition will crumble, in the sense we won’t go on providing Ukraine with the resources that they need to fight this war and to keep their economy running. And this is a way of showing that we have the capacity and the will to do so.”

As reported earlier, the G7 members immobilized nearly $280 billion worth of Russian assets following the 2022 invasion. The latest move allows using the interest generated on these frozen assets, which is about $2.6 billion to $3.6 billion a year, to pay back a $50 billion loan to provide to Ukraine immediately.