America News Agency

At Monday’s G7 finance ministers’ meeting, Tokyo reacted coldly to Brussels’ request to replicate its plan to transfer the cash proceeds from Russian state assets held at the Belgian bank Euroclear to Ukraine.

Two EU diplomats told Politico that Japan signaled it would not be able to use the roughly 30 billion dollars' worth of frozen Russian assets located on its territory to provide loans to Ukraine.

The European Commission wants EU capitals to reach an agreement on using up to €210 billion in sanctioned liquidity before the leaders’ summit on December 18. However, Belgium is resisting the plan, fearing it would have to repay the entire sum if Russia were to claim the money back.

One of the Commission’s demands is for other G7 countries outside the EU to also provide loans to Ukraine using the frozen Russian assets held within their borders.

However, the United States and Japan have refused to join Brussels’ plan, leaving the EU to shoulder the burden of Ukraine’s future financing needs alone.

According to one EU diplomat, the U.S. said during the meeting that it would end its support for Ukraine once it finishes paying the remaining tranches of the G7-wide loan negotiated by the Biden administration in 2024.

Ukraine, ravaged by war, is facing a budget deficit of €71.7 billion next year and will be forced to cut public spending from April if no new funding arrives.