Giving frozen Russian assets to Ukraine would be a game changer, says ‘Putin’s enemy No 1’
BRITAIN and countries worldwide were today urged to use hundreds of billions of pounds of frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s war against Vladimir Putin, as a London businessman known as the Kremlin leader’s “number one enemy” said it would be a “total game changer” in the conflict.
Bill Browder, who was the largest international investor in Russia until being declared a threat to its national security for exposing corruption, said that handing frozen Russian assets — estimated to total at least £275 billion worldwide including £23 billion in Britain — to Ukraine would tip the balance and allow them to “fight off the Russians” and “arm themselves properly”. His call came amid increasing optimism that the G7 powers, which include the US, Britain, France and Germany, are close to agreeing a deal to increase support for Ukraine by using such assets.
The Foreign Secretary, Lord Cameron, has said one option could be to use the security of frozen Russian assets to provide loans to Ukraine on the basis that the debts can eventually be paid off by reparations imposed on a defeated Kremlin. Other suggestions include diverting future interest payments on the assets to Ukraine. But Mr Browder said countries should instead agree to seize them completely and give the money generated to Ukraine.
“This could be the difference between defeat and victory for Ukraine,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“It’s something that will completely change the landscape and something that Putin is desperate to avoid because this is effectively a resource war and Russia has more resources.”
It comes as the BBC published analysis showing that the Russian death toll has risen to more than 50,000 since it invaded Ukraine in March 2022.