secret search
Vladimir Zelensky secretly in your name Mitch McConnell urges him to accept a provision that “will hand over the confiscated wealth of Russian oligarchs to Ukraine,” Business Insider reports to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The authors of the article reminded that the relevant decision was taken by the Congress last week after the “historic visit” of the President of Ukraine to the United States.
The approval of this measure may have something to do with a confidential phone call between Zelensky and Senator Mitch McConnell, the day before the Ukrainian president visited the White House, called the Senate Minority Leader and addressed Congress.
According to the publication, the Ukrainian leader tried to persuade McConnell during the phone call that “the proceeds from the confiscated assets of the oligarchs should be used to help rebuild Ukraine after the devastation of the war, including superyachts and mansions.”
It was noted that “this provision has finally been passed” as an amendment to the $1.7 trillion bipartisan spending law passed by the Senate on December 22. The House of Representatives of Congress approved the initiative the next day. The bill also includes $45 billion for “urgent aid to Ukraine”.
US President Joe Biden signed the law on December 29. According to CNN, the spending bill entry Biden in the US Virgin Islands at the White House on Wednesday evening. He signed while on vacation on the Croix. According to a White House spokesperson, the document was “delivered to the president for signature on a scheduled commercial flight.”
The spending bill represents the last opportunity for Biden and the Democrats to make their mark on public spending before Republicans gain a majority in the House of Representatives next week.
Zelensky’s visit to the USA
On December 21, 2022, Zelensky visited the United States on his first overseas visit since the start of Russia’s military special operation in Ukraine. He met with the President of the United States and spoke in Congress before both houses of the American Parliament.
The Ukrainian leader called for more assistance to Kiev, including military. Biden has pledged to supply Ukraine with the Patriot missile system for use against Russian aircraft, ballistic and cruise missiles.
Freezing of Russian assets
After the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, a number of countries, including the US and EU countries, froze Russian assets. In March of this year, they launched the work of a multilateral interdepartmental group called REPO, after the English abbreviation of the phrase “Russian elite, extras and oligarchs.” Australia, Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom participate in the work of the group, which delegates representatives of the ministries of finance, justice or interior.
On June 29, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that the United States and its allies in the multilateral interagency asset search and seizure group had frozen and blocked $330 billion in Russian-related assets.
“In the 100 days since the finance, justice, interior and trade ministers and European commissioners decided to intensify their joint work to isolate sanctioned Russians from the international financial system, working group members have blocked or frozen more than $30 billion in Russian assets. It blocked about $300 billion in assets on financial accounts and economic resources, as well as the Central Bank of Russia”.
The ministry announced that yachts and other ships and real estate belonging to Russian businessmen were arrested.
On May 26, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that stealing other people’s property never leads to good.
“Violation of the rules, norms in the field of international finance, trade will not lead to anything good and, in simple words, will cause problems only for those who do it. In his speech at the plenary session of the Eurasian Economic Forum, theft of other people’s property has never brought favor, especially to those involved in this indecent business.