The UK and its European allies should move from freezing Russian assets to seizing them, according to the Foreign Secretary. David Lammy made the remarks in response to a call for emergency legislation in Westminster to enable frozen assets to be used to assist Ukraine with its war and rebuilding efforts.
The Cabinet minister also said Russian president Vladimir Putin “should pay in terms of his accountability” for his country’s actions in Ukraine. Speaking at Foreign Office questions, Liberal Democrat MP Alison Bennett (Mid Sussex) asked in the Commons: “Will the Government bring forward emergency legislation to seize frozen Russian assets and ensure they are repurposed to support Ukraine in the wake of (US President Donald) Trump’s talks with Putin?.
“And if not, would the Foreign Secretary explain why not?”. Mr Lammy replied: “(Ms Bennett) raises an important issue. It’s not an issue on which any government can act alone, we must act with European allies. “It was a topic of conversation at the G7, it was a topic of conversation at the Weimar group and of course Europe has to act quickly and I believe we should move from freezing assets to seizing assets.”.
After shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel asked for an update on talks on the international effort to prosecute Russia for invading Ukraine, Mr Lammy replied: “She knows this work began under the last government, that we led the world in ensuring that there was sufficient funds in Ukraine and the Foreign Office does support lawyers working in Ukraine to gather that evidence.”.
