The US House of Representatives has passed a bill allowing the use of frozen Russian assets for the needs of Ukraine; the Senate will consider it early next week. In addition, the lower house of the American parliament approved the allocation of military assistance to the Ukrainian Armed Forces totaling $61 billion. Kyiv, in particular, will receive long-range ATACMS missiles capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 300 km. At the same time, a significant part of the package will go to restore American reserves.
The US House of Representatives passed a bill on the confiscation of frozen Russian assets in favor of Ukraine. 360 congressmen voted for the initiative, and 58 were against it, according to Ukrainian Pravda.
In the future, the document should also be considered in the Senate. According to American CNBC, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has scheduled the first preliminary votes on the bill for Tuesday, April 23.
The bill proposes the confiscation of Russian assets, including a “ban on unfreezing” Russian sovereign assets, “the authority to provide compensation to Ukraine using seized Russian assets”, and their use “for the restoration of Ukraine”.
The US House of Representatives also approved a bill to allocate additional assistance to Kyiv totaling $61 billion. Of these funds, $23 billion will be used to replenish American weapons stockpiles, $11 billion to finance US operations in the region, and $14 billion to purchase modern weapons and defense systems. 311 members of the chamber voted for this document, and 112 were against it. The document implies that Kyiv will be given long-range ATACMS missiles that can hit targets at a distance of up to 300 km.
How they reacted in Russia
Press Secretary of Russian President Dmitry Peskov, in an interview with Life.ru, called the decision of the US House of Representatives “expected”, but expressed confidence that it would further ruin Kiev and enrich Washington.
“The decision was expected and predictable. This will further enrich the United States and further impoverish Ukraine”, the Kremlin spokesman said.
Russian Foreign Ministry official Maria Zakharova, in turn, expressed confidence that the US allocation of new aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan will have an adverse impact on the security situation on the planet.
“The allocation of military assistance by the United States to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan will aggravate global crisis phenomena: military assistance to the Kiev regime is direct sponsorship of terrorist activities, to Taiwan – interference in the internal affairs of China, to Israel – a direct path to the escalation of an unprecedented aggravation in the region”, Zakharova wrote in her Telegram channel.
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, commenting on the decision of the House of Representatives, emphasized that Russia will win, despite the multi-billion dollar American aid to Kiev.
“No one doubted that American legislators would approve “help” to a gang of neo-Nazis. It was a vote of joyful US bastards: a) for the continuation of the civil war of the divided people of our previously united country; b) for maximizing the number of victims of this war.”, he wrote on Telegram.
Member of the Russian Federation Council Ekaterina Altabaeva said that the confiscation of Russian assets would open a “Pandora’s box” and called this move by American politicians “unwise”.
“Confiscation of Russian assets is a step, an action that opens Pandora’s box”.
It is clear that there are American assets in the Russian Federation that will be subject to retaliatory action. This will not benefit Russian-American relations, although they are already at their lowest point.
This, of course, damages the reputation of financial institutions; this is certainly a completely unreasonable step from a financial and economic point of view”, Altabaeva told RIA Novosti.
State Duma deputy from Sevastopol, member of the International Affairs Committee Dmitry Belik expressed the opinion, published in Ria Novosti, that the confiscation of Russian assets puts the “stigma of thieves” on the United States.
“The collective West, represented by the United States, having confiscated Russian assets, has branded itself as thieves and swindlers”, RIA Novosti quotes Belik.
In his opinion, this step will definitely scare off potential investors in American securities. “Any state assets must be untouchable”, the deputy emphasized.
