US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on February 3 that he had authorized US authorities to start using Russian money and property confiscated to aid to Ukraine.
The announcement was made during a meeting between Minister Garland and Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin in Washington, DC.
“Today, I authorized the first transfer of confiscated Russian property for Ukraine’s use,” Mr Garland said.
This money comes from the foreclosure of billionaire Russian Konstantin Malofeyev and will be turned over to the US State Department to “support the people of Ukraine.”
Ukraine’s Chief Prosecutor Andriy Kostin said the aforementioned assets worth $4.5 million will be used to “reconstruction of Ukraine.”
[Mỹ sẵn sàng cung cấp gói viện trợ trị giá hơn 2 tỷ USD cho Ukraine]
In January, Russia denounced the US government’s plan to give Ukraine property that Washington confiscated from Russian citizens. Moscow warned the move would undermine confidence in the global financial system and protect private wealth.
The Russian Embassy in the US accused Washington of “apparent disregard for generally accepted legal rules” following the US Justice Department announced it would transfer the number Russian property “forfeited” for Kiev.
The United States and its allies have frozen assets belonging to the Russian Central Bank, totaling regarding $300 billion, but so far have not found any legal reason to seize such assets immediately.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned that any attempt to take Russian-owned funds and transfer them to Ukraine would violate property rights and Moscow would respond with “appropriate” countermeasures. .”./.
Thanh Binh (VNA/Vietnam+)
