Canada will send $5 billion in aid to Ukraine using funds from seized Russian assets, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday at a peace and security summit in Kyiv.
Trudeau made the pledge as he and a dozen other world leaders are in the Ukrainian capital to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion, where support for Ukraine to end the war on its terms and with its territory intact remained strong.
“This is not a conflict Ukraine wanted, provoked or asked for in any way,” Trudeau said at the summit table.
“This is a war started for one reason and one reason only: Russia’s desire to erase Ukrainian history and expand their empire.”
[…]
“We cannot return to an era where might makes right,” Trudeau said. “We must do everything in our power to enable Ukraine to secure a just and lasting peace, a peace that cannot be achieved without Ukrainians at the table.”
Great to see the Europe and Canada really stepping up now with the Ukraine support. There was decent support before but it’s being taken to a whole new level and I think Canada and Europe could work on many partnerships going forward.
Yeah, and don’t forget that the UK announces largest sanctions package against Russia since 2022
Addition: Australia, New Zealand, Japan also just announced new sanctions.
So it’s like the entire world against USA and RUS, except for far right parties like the one in Italy and Germany? We need a map to understand allies
Nato(no US though).
Nato without US, but with Australia, New Zealand, Japan: the three countries reaffirmed and announced new sanctions at the start of this week.
Meanwhile US is busy slamming tariffs on their allies.
Oh no… but this will set the dangerous precedent that other countries will seize the assets of foreign invaders. What will we do…
Good. First country to make such a pledge, as, previous actions were to freeze russian assets and use them as guarantee to secure loans for Ukraine or to use interest on seized assets for Ukraine. Before Canada takes action on this, i hope other countries will make similar pledges.
Someone awhile ago posted that this isn’t necessarily a good way to do it and it logically made some sense at the time (but that was like a year ago)
Part of trying to end the war is to give reasons for it to end.
One of those reasons is the removal of sanctions.
When you’re simply using the interest, or a loan backed by assets, you can always dangle the sanctioned assets as part of a benefit of ending the war. Maybe not 100% but we’ll give you 80% back if you stop today, and 20% to rebuilding.
By liquidating the assets so the proceeds can be given to Ukraine, you do make it harder for the aggressor to maintain the war and win, but you’ve now removed an incentive to end it.
Before it’s the carrot and the stick. That’s usually more effective than sticks.
Granted… how long can you do the carrot and the stick if it just outright doesn’t work.
Say you don’t pay your speeding ticket … now authorities temporarily takes your car. You still don’t pay and have tickets for $100,000 ? … sorry, you won’t have your car back.
Comparing this to russ : a terrorist used their car to crash into a crowd + millions in damage … do you give them a bonus ?
All of this seems crazy … and things are getting worse week after week.
This whole thing is crazy yes, but I’m not sure you understand how sanctions work given your example.
Russia is attacking Ukraine yes, but Canada seized Russian assets that aren’t part of the war, such as (made up examples) real estates, boats, businesses, money in bank accounts.
If Russia ends the war, the sanctions go away and they get those back. That’s the entire point of what sanctions are.
For me the follow-up is here :
https://lemmy.world/post/26015432
WATCH: Macron interrupts Trump to correct him about Ukraine funding
