Truss Wants UK To Follow Canada And Seize Russian Assets For Ukraine Recovery

The UK wants to follow the example of Canada and seize the assets of Russians in the UK in order to give them to Ukraine, Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, has said.

- Patrick Wintour

Truss is due to give a speech today to a Ukraine reconstruction conference in Lugano , Switzerland, that will be attended either in person or virtually by most of the senior Ukrainian political leadership.

It is estimated that more than 120,000 homes in Ukraine have been destroyed, creating the need for billions to restore the country and make it a Europe-fac ing economy.

Truss told MPs last week that she was supportive of the idea that the government could seize frozen Russian assets in the UK and redeploy them to the victims of Russia’s attacks in Ukraine.

She said: “I am supportive of the concept. We are looking at it very closely. The Canadians have in fact just passed legislation. This is an issue that we are working on jointly with the Home Office and the Treasury, but I certainly agree with the concept. We just need to get the specifics of it right.”