G. Skaistė: “Lithuania and Canada are united in common interest – stopped aggressor and free Ukraine”

During the annual meetings of the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Marrakech, Minister of Finance Gintarė Skaistė had a meeting with Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland. During the meeting, the Ministers focused on the issues of support to Ukraine, continuous sanctions against russia and its confederate Belarus and use of frozen russian assets.

”Together with Canada, we share the same value-based principles and risk assessment – the aggressor russia must be stopped, peaceful Ukraine must win, and there can be no tolerance to war and aggression. Therefore, the support mobilised by both the EU and the G7 countries is vital to Ukraine’s victory. At the same time, it is essential to continue to work on tightening sanctions against russia and Belarus, accordingly. We have unanimous consent with Canada also on the use of frozen russian assets for Ukraine’s needs and possible ways to make decisions faster – russia itself must pay for russian crimes “, stressed Minister of Finance G. Skaistė.

During the meeting, the Finance Ministers discussed the use of frozen russian assets for Ukraine’s reconstruction, agreed to cooperate on possible solutions to this issue, not only in implementing the ‘contingent contribution’ (interest received on frozen assets would be transferred by financial institutions to the EU budget), but also in looking for legal instruments to transfer all frozen russian funds to Ukraine.

The Ministers discussed also the need not only to tighten existing sanctions against russia, but also to introduce appropriate sanctions against Belarus which was its confederate since the beginning of the war, thus limiting to the maximum extent possible the possibility of continuing to finance the war in Ukraine.

Last updated: 18-10-2023

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