EU official says G7 zeroes in on Russian assets deal

The European Union's economy commissioner said G7 talks in Italy on Friday may lead to a deal next month on tapping profits from frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine.

Finance ministers from the Group of Seven industrial powers have been discussing how they could draw funds from the 300 billion euros ($325 billion) in blocked Russian central bank assets.

EU economy commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said the talks in Stresa involved "how to move forward on the path" already taken by the 27-nation bloc.

The EU formally approved this week a plan to use the interest from Russian assets frozen by the bloc, a move that it hopes would generate up to three billion euros a year to help Ukraine.

A more ambitious idea under discussion at the G7, proposed by the United States, involves creating a $50 billion loan facility for Ukraine against the future interest generated by the Russian assets.

Gentiloni suggested that discussions would continue at the G7 Summit in Puglia next month, but cited "a positive convergence going on" in Stresa.

"There are many details that still need to be clarified and explored, but the way forward using the extra profits seems to me to be an interesting direction," he told reporters on the sidelines of the talks.

He added that "in the medium term, it may lead to an agreement" approved by G7 leaders.

Italy's finance minister, Giancarlo Giorgetti, also told journalists that the group in Stresa were eyeing "the basis for a solution for the mid-June summit" in Puglia.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urged her counterparts Thursday to embrace "more ambitious options" for funding Ukraine, saying she hoped the Stresa participants could arrive at "concrete options" to be presented at the G7's June 13-15 summit.