TOKYO, May 17 (Reuters) - Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Friday proposals to use frozen Russian financial assets to aid Ukraine needed to comply with international law.
Finance ministers from the Group of Seven major democracies will meet in Italy next week and will discuss the question of how revenues from the frozen Russian assets should be used.
"Japan will join the discussions at the upcoming meeting from this basic standpoint," Suzuki said during a regular post-cabinet meeting press conference.
The G7 froze around $300 billion worth of financial assets soon after Russia's attack on Ukraine in February 2022.
Since then, G7 countries and the European Union have debated whether and how to use the funds to help Ukraine.
The G7 comprises the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada.
The United States has proposed seizing the assets in their entirety, but European governments cite risks from that approach to the euro and legal repercussions.
The G7 will support the EU's preference to use revenues from frozen Russian assets to the benefit of Ukraine, an Italian Treasury official said on Thursday.
When asked about the EU agreement to use windfall profits from Russian central bank assets frozen in the EU for Ukraine's defence, Suzuki said that will be discussed as well.
"We have to have a common understanding," he said.
(Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama and Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Sam Holmes)
