Rishi Sunak: Now is the moment to seize Russian assets to help Ukraine

Rishi Sunak has urged the government to go further and seize Russian assets to benefit Ukraine.

The former prime minister said the decision by the United States to pause and review its military assistance to Ukraine highlighted the need for Europe to find “considerably more resources”.

Speaking at Treasury questions on Tuesday morning, Sunak told the House of Commons: “Events overnight make it even clearer that Europe must find considerably more resources for Ukraine.

“The chancellor has rightly continued our policy of using the interest on frozen Russian state assets to benefit Ukraine, but I believe now is the moment to go further and to actually seize those assets.

“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine violates the principle of sovereign equality providing a basis in international law for this and by acting in concert with our allies we can ensure there are no risks to financial stability.”

He added: “So can I urge the chancellor to push for co-ordinated action to seize those frozen Russian state assets, give that money to the Ukrainians so that they can defend their country and rebuild it too?”

Rachel Reeves responded that it is “incredibly complicated” to take further action in line with international law but added Russia should “pay for the damage that Russia has caused”.

The chancellor said: “As the prime minister said yesterday, we would look at going further but as [he] knows it is incredibly complicated to do that in line with international law, but we keep all options on the table because [he] is absolutely right, Russia should pay for the damage that Russia has caused.”

Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for all the latest news and analysis.