British Foreign Office allowed the restoration of Ukraine at the expense of Russian business

Russian businessmen should finance the reconstruction of Ukraine, says British Foreign Secretary Cleverley. Moscow has previously been skeptical about such initiatives James Cleverley

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverley believes that Russian businessmen should finance the restoration of Ukraine. He expressed this opinion at a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. The broadcast was hosted by The Independent.

According to him, both the authorities and the private sector should take part in the reconstruction of the country. Cleverly said that in order for a business to sponsor the reconstruction of a country in conflict, he needs guarantees that the funds will not be lost, but will be used for their intended purpose.

Asked whether the British authorities support the use of "oligarch funds" in the reconstruction of Ukraine, Cleverley expressed the opinion that there is "a clear principle of natural justice, when a significant, perhaps predominant, burden of reconstruction should fall on the shoulders of those" who financed or assisted conducting military operations in RUSSIA.

In this regard, the HEAD of the British Foreign Office mentioned the bill presented the day before , which allows maintaining sanctions against Russia until Moscow pays compensation to Kiev and assumes that persons included in the London sanctions list will be able to donate the frozen funds for the restoration of Ukraine. According to him, this approach can be described as: "you broke it, you bought it."

Commenting on the use of proceeds from the sale of Chelsea Football Club to sanctioned businessman Roman Abramovich, Cleverly stressed that the issue should not be rushed. “A fund has been created that will ultimately be responsible for the distribution of these funds. However, these are exceptionally large sums, and I have made it very clear that I want these funds to be distributed efficiently and to support the victims of the conflict Ukrainians. With so much money at stake , it's important that we get it right, not fast," he said.

After the sale of Chelsea by Abramovich for £2.3 billion, a fund was formed that will manage these funds. They were supposed to be sent to "all those affected" by the conflict. On June 18, the Daily Mail wrote that Abramovich was refusing to sign an order allowing him to transfer funds from the sale of the British football club to Ukraine . Foreign Office sources confirmed to the newspaper that Abramovich wants a significant portion of the money to go to Russians affected by the conflict. However, neither London nor the European Commission will agree to this while the sanctions are in place.

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Prior to this, The Telegraph reported that the EU and the UK cannot agree on how best to spend these funds. According to the publication, the European Union insists that they go to work on the "long-term restoration" of Ukraine, while London believes that these funds should be sent to help those affected by the conflict.

The Russian authorities have criticized the freezing of assets of Russia and Russian businesses abroad, calling such measures illegal.

Former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul offered to give Russian businessmen the opportunity to withdraw from the sanctions list, but for this he suggested that they donate half of their fortune to the fund for the restoration of Ukraine. Russian businessmen who work and earn income in Russia are unlikely to take seriously the proposal to lift Western sanctions in exchange for condemning the military operation in Ukraine and donating part of their fortune to Kiev, said Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov .