The United States has submitted a bill to Congress, which, if approved, would allow for the transfer of confiscated Russian assets for the restoration of Ukraine.
According to the text, the bill proposes to give the president the authority to seize assets worth more than $2 million belonging to "foreign persons" — Russian oligarchs and other people who help the Russian government in violation of US law.
It also clarifies the powers of the Ministry of Justice regarding the transfer of funds — according to this, the US government can transfer to Ukraine all expenses received as a result of the confiscation of Russian assets. It is proposed to spend them on the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine, humanitarian and military aid, aid to refugees, and to invest in technologies that will ensure the "free flow of information" in Ukraine.
The Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal welcomed this initiative, because it will help to confiscate the assets of sanctioned Russian oligarchs faster.
- In February 2023, US Attorney General Merrick Garland authorized the first-ever transfer of confiscated Russian assets for use in Ukraine. We are talking about $5.4 million of Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev — he is considered one of the main organizers of the Russian occupation of part of the Ukrainian Donbass in 2014 and a sponsor of the terrorist regime installed there by the Kremlin.