US President Joe Biden said on Sunday he had reached an agreement with French President Emmanuel Macron on the use of profits from frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine.
Asked if the two men had discussed the issue and whether they had come up with an agreement, Biden replied: “Yes and yes.”
The Group of Seven nations (G7) and the European Union are considering how to use profits generated by Russian assets immobilised in the West to provide Ukraine with a large upfront loan now and secure Kyiv’s financing for 2025.
Around €260 billion (US$280.9 billion) of Russian central bank funds are frozen worldwide, most of it in the EU. The funds generate €2.5 billion to €3.5 billion a year in profit, which the EU says is not contractually owed to Russia and therefore represents a windfall.
The idea, championed by the US, is to use this profit as a steady revenue stream to service a large loan of US$50 billion that could be raised on the market. Russia says any diversion of the profits from its frozen funds would amount to theft.
Tapping profits from Russian assets has drawn concerns from some countries, but a US Treasury official said on Tuesday that the United States and its G7 partners were making progress.
Biden ended his trip to France by paying his respects at an American military cemetery that Donald Trump notably skipped when he was president, hoping his final stop on Sunday helped draw the stakes of the November election in stark relief.
Before returning to the US, Biden honoured America’s war dead at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery about an hour outside Paris. He placed a wreath at the cemetery chapel before an expanse of white headstones marking the final resting place of more than 2,200 US soldiers who fought in World War I.
It was a solemn end to five days in which Trump was an unspoken yet unavoidable presence. On the surface, the trip marked the 80th anniversary of D-Day and celebrated the alliance between the United States and France. But during an election year when Trump has called into question fundamental understandings about America’s global role, Biden has embraced his Republican predecessor – and would-be successor – as a latent foil.
Every ode to the transatlantic partnership was a reminder that Trump could upend those relationships. Each reference to democracy stood a counterpoint to his rival’s efforts to overturn a presidential election. The myriad exhortations to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia created a contrast with Trump’s scepticism about providing US help.
Biden’s paeans to the struggle between democracy and autocracy drew plaudits in Europe, where the prospect of a return to Trump’s turbulent reign has sparked no shortage of anxiety. But it remains to be seen how the message will resonate with American voters, as Biden’s campaign struggles to connect the dire warnings the Democratic president so often delivers about his rival with people’s daily concerns.
The visit to the cemetery served as a moment to underscore the contrast once more.
“It’s the same story,” Biden said. “America showed up. America showed up to stop the Germans. America showed up to make sure that they did not prevail. And America shows up when we’re needed just like our allies show for us.”
During a 2018 trip to France, Trump skipped plans to go to the cemetery, a decision that the White House blamed on weather at the time. However, subsequent reports said that Trump told aides he did not want to go because he viewed the dead soldiers as “suckers” and “losers”. Trump has denied the comments, although they were later corroborated by his chief of staff at the time, John Kelly.
Trump’s purported insults have become a regular feature of Biden’s campaign speeches, including during an April rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
“These soldiers were heroes, just as every American who has served this nation,” Biden said. “Believing otherwise, that alone is disqualifying for someone to seek this office.”
United we stand, divided we fall. Allied we are, and allied we will stay
Biden ignored a direct question about Trump at the cemetery but said it was important to visit the hallowed ground. “The idea that I would come to Normandy and not make the short trip here to pay tribute,” he added, his voice trailing off as if to express disbelief.
Maura Sullivan, a former Marine officer who served on the American Battle Monuments Commission under President Barack Obama, said Biden’s visit would “set the example, and do what a president should do.” Now an official with the New Hampshire Democratic Party, Sullivan said that “voters can draw their own conclusions” from that.
Biden’s trip was full of emotional moments, and the president grew heavy-eyed after meeting with Second World War veterans. A 21-gun salute cast eerie smoke over 9,388 white marble headstones at the Normandy American Cemetery.
“This has been the most remarkable trip that I’ve ever made,” Biden said on Saturday night, his last in Paris before returning to the US.
At Aisne-Marne, Biden said the trip “surprised me how much it awakened my sense of why it’s so valuable to have these alliances. Why it’s so critical. That’s the way you stop wars, not start wars.”
03:58
Emmanuel Macron thanks Xi Jinping for ‘commitment’ not to sell arms to Russia
Emmanuel Macron thanks Xi Jinping for ‘commitment’ not to sell arms to Russia
Biden’s trip was also punctuated by the pomp of a state visit in Paris.
Macron arranged a ceremony at the Arc du Triomphe, where four fighter jets flew overhead, and hosted a banquet at the Elysee presidential palace.
“United we stand, divided we fall,” Macron said in toasting Biden. “Allied we are, and allied we will stay.”
Overall, Biden’s visit had a slower pace than other foreign trips. The 81-year-old president had no public events on his first day in Paris after arriving on an overnight flight, and did not hold a press conference with reporters, as is customary. John Kirby, a national security spokesman, said that was necessary to prepare “in advance of the weighty engagements” during subsequent days.
Still, it was a contrast to Macron’s tendency to offer prestigious guests an intense schedule with a mix of official meetings, business talks, cultural events and private dinners at fancy restaurants.
When the 46-year-old French leader hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping last month, the two-day agenda was crammed with activities including a trip to the Pyrenees Mountains near the border with Spain where Macron spent time as a child.
Additional reporting by Reuters
