Sunak at Ukraine Recovery Conference: 'Russia Must Pay'

Facts

• Hosting the second Ukraine Recovery Conference in London on Wednesday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that Russia "must pay" for the damage inflicted in Ukraine, stating that his government is working with allies to explore means of using frozen Russian assets for Ukraine's reconstruction.¹
• "It’s clear Russia must pay for the destruction that they've inflicted," Sunak said. "So we're working with allies to explore lawful routes to use Russian assets. And on Monday, we publish new legislation to allow us to keep sanctions in place until Russia pays up."¹
• The move follows suit with the US which implemented similar measures earlier in the year. In February, US Attorney Gen. Merrick Garland — while his Ukrainian counterpart visited Washington — announced that the US Dept. of Justice had for the first time authorized the US to use funds seized from Russia for Ukraine aid. Garland said that $5.4M of assets confiscated from Konstantin Malofeyev would be used.²
• In Wednesday's address, the British Prime Minister also announced that the UK has pledged to loan Ukraine over £2.3B ($2.9B) to help rebuild the country. He further announced a $3B loan guarantee program with the World Bank, pledging to underwrite the risk of war-time investment into Ukraine.³
• Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the conference via video link on Wednesday. Meanwhile, US Sec. of State Antony Blinken and European Commission Pres. Ursula von der Leyen addressed the two-day conference in person, attending the event alongside politicians, diplomats, and businesspeople from more than 60 countries — BT, Virgin, Philips, and Hyundai Engineering are among the firms already committed to investment in Ukraine.⁴
• In his address to the conference, Blinken said the US was providing a further $1.3B in additional aid to Ukraine, including $520M to overhaul its energy grid, while $675M has been earmarked for new infrastructure. Like Sunak before him, Blinken also insisted, "Russia will eventually bear the cost of Ukraine's reconstruction."⁵

Sources: ¹UKRINFORM, ²South China Morning Post, ³Metro, ⁴Associated Press, and ⁵Guardian.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Guardian. Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine not only tramples across the UN Charter but across Western ideals of freedom and democracy. That has made the West more united than ever, but support for the mammoth job of rebuilding Ukraine is still needed. Western firms and companies will support Ukraine for now, but Russia must ultimately pay for the damage it has inflicted.
• Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by TASS. The so-called sanctioning of Russian assets is nothing more than state-sponsored theft. In pursuing this strategy, the West shows it's ready to trample on its own principles of the presumption of innocence or the inviolability of private property — all to continue its pursuit of hegemonic aims. However, Russia has plenty of other reliable partners across the world.

Predictions