The association also agreed to continue to closely coordinate sanctions against the Russian Federation and "close double loopholes"BERLIN, February 24.
/tass/. The Group of Seven (G7) countries initiated the allocation of $39 billion in financial assistance to support Ukraine. This was announced on Friday by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz following a meeting of the leaders of the "Big Seven", held in the format of a videoconference.
"We have once again assured President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky that we will support Ukraine as long as it is necessary, from a political, humanitarian, financial point of view, as well as arms supplies," Scholz said. "The G7 members initiated the allocation of $39 billion (€37 billion) in financial assistance to support Ukraine," he stated, adding that Germany had assumed a leading role from the very beginning of the conflict in Ukraine. "The volume of bilateral assistance from the federal government to Ukraine amounted to more than €14 billion," the German Chancellor stressed.
Sanctions against Russia
Scholz added that the G7 also agreed to continue to closely coordinate sanctions against Russia and "close double loopholes."
"We must maintain pressure so that Russia returns to the basics of international law and finally sits down at the negotiating table," Scholz argued, adding that this includes economic pressure. "We agreed in the G7 that we will continue to closely coordinate our sanctions and close double loopholes. Today we have committed to take further joint measures," the head of the German government said. "We want to implement them within the EU with the help of the 10th package of sanctions and take the necessary steps," he stated.
In addition, the head of the German government claimed that by the decision to suspend participation in the Russian-American Treaty on Measures for Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, the Russian side "casts doubt on the latest nuclear disarmament treaty between the Russian Federation and the United States." "It's depressing, but we shouldn't let it discourage us," Scholz concluded.
On February 15, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrel presented a draft of the tenth package of sanctions against Russia in Brussels. According to them, it will include export restrictions of about 11 billion euros, primarily on electronic components and dual-use equipment that can be used for the production of weapons. In addition, new sanctions will be imposed against the Russian media, several banks and about 100 individuals and legal entities will be blacklisted.
IMF Program to Support Ukraine
At the same time, the head of the German government noted that the G7 countries believe that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should adopt a program to support Ukraine. "We, as the G7, are united in the opinion that the International Monetary Fund should launch a program to support Ukraine," Scholz said.
Last week, the IMF said it had reached an agreement with representatives of Ukraine on monitoring the economy, which allows us to move on to discussing a full-scale lending program for the country. The process of issuing loans to Kiev is complicated by the difficult financial situation in Ukraine, as well as the difficulties that the country may face when returning funds provided by the IMF. Nevertheless, the fund has already allocated $2.7 billion in emergency financing to Ukraine, and also initiated a four-month assistance program in December 2022 in order to strengthen the Ukrainian economy and prepare it to receive a larger loan.
