Billions of pounds in Russian assets – including £ 2.5 billion generated by the sale of Chelsea Football Club – must be used to support Ukraine, ministers are insisted.
During the weekend, Rachel Reeves announced that she would use the profit of frozen Russian assets to finance a loan scheme of £ 2.26 billion to help KYIV to finance his reconstruction and buy weapons.
But the government is confronted with calls to continue and use the assets itself.
Conservative former cabinet minister Sir John Wheatingdale said that ministers should 'start thinking' about whether they can use the frozen assets.
“The announcement that we are going to use the interest in the frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine is a fairly big step forward,” he told on Sunday evening at Westminster Hour of BBC Radio 4.
'I actually think we should start thinking if we can't use those assets ourselves. That is a very controversial problem …
“But there are now countries that there is a huge amount of Russian money, which probably never goes back to Russia and maybe we should start looking at that.”
In the meantime, a legal adviser said that the £ 2.5 billion generated from the sale of Chelsea FC is still locked up for three years, even though it is committed to humanitarian aid in Ukraine.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves signs loan guarantees for Ukraine alongside Sir Keir Starmer and Volodyymyr Zenskyy
Roman Abramovich announced the sale of Chelsea in March 2022. Now ministers are encouraged to use Russian assets, including the £ 2.5 billion generated from the sale of the football club, to support Ukraine
Tory Former Cabinet Sminister Sir John Wheatingdale (photo) said that ministers should 'start thinking' about whether they can use the frozen assets
Roman Abramovich announced the sale of Chelsea in March 2022 in the midst of calling for him to be punished after the full invasion of Russia in Ukraine.
The sanctions came days later and the sale was completed later that year and Mr Abramovich promised to distract all proceeds to a foundation to improve victims of the war.
But Lyra Nightingale, a legal adviser at Redress, an organization that helps to deliver justice and recovery unions for torture survivors and challenging impunity for perpetrators, said that the funds remained unused and there was “no clear reason for the government about why it is.”
She told BBC Radio 4's Today's Program: 'About three years ago, Abramovich was … subject to these Russian sanctions … And he received a license to sell Chelsea Football Club.
“The proceeds would go for Ukraine. (But) three years later we still wait.
“And there is no clear reason from the government why it is. (It is) still locked up. That money is explicitly dedicated to humanitarian purposes in Ukraine.
“We don't know why it's stuck. There is a real lack of transparency and more than three years of campaign for that money to go where the government said it would go, that has still not happened. '
Abramovich (right) with Vladimir Putin during a meeting in Moscow in May 2005
Firefighters who work on extinguishing a fire in a residential building in Kharkiv, Ukraine after a Russian drone attack on March 2
Asked whether Sir Keir supported calls to seize the Russian assets, the Prime Minister's official spokesperson said yesterday: 'We are currently aimed at the agreement that the G7 has reached with regard to the use of seized Russian assets to pay for support to Ukraine.
'There was an agreement of 50 billion US dollars at the G7, there was the agreement or loan that the Chancellor signed from the UK this weekend – £ 2.26 billion loan to strengthen Ukrainian military capacities with the help of Sanctioned Russian Sovereine Activa.
'That agreement is in force and we are currently focused on that. We will never take options from the table to further support Ukraine, but that is where the current focus is. '
