The White House has thrown its support behind legislation that’s been introduced in Congress that would allow the use of frozen Russian central bank assets to fund Ukraine, Bloomberg reported.
About $300 billion in Russian central bank assets was frozen by the US and its allies after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The idea of outright stealing the money and giving it to Ukraine has been floated for a while, but the Biden administration has hesitated over the legality of the issue.
US officials have also been concerned that spending the Russian funds could make other countries hesitant to keep funds in dollars or at the New York Federal Reserve Bank, and thus speed up global de-dollarization. But according to Bloomberg, the White House’s National Security Council said that it welcomed “in principle” the legislation introduced in Congress to seize the funds.
“The bill would provide the authority needed for the executive branch to seize Russian sovereign assets for the benefit of Ukraine,” the NSC said in a memo to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in November.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has also come out in favor of the plan. “It would be pure poetry to fund the Ukrainian war effort with Russian assets,” Johnson told The New York Post in November. “As you can imagine, that idea has been met with great enthusiasm on the Republican side. I suspect it will be with our colleagues on the other side as well. It’s an eminently responsible thing for us to do.”
Legislation was introduced in both chambers of Congress to give the Executive Branch the authority to establish a “Ukraine Support Fund” using stolen Russian funds. The bill has 14 bipartisan co-sponsors in the Senate and 62 in the House.
According to a summary of the bill, the Ukraine Support Fund could also be used to “support an international body or mechanism for (1) reconstruction and rebuilding efforts in Ukraine, (2) humanitarian assistance to the Ukrainian people, or (3) other purposes which support the recovery of Ukraine and the welfare of the Ukrainian people.”
News of the White House support for the legislation comes as the Biden administration is struggling to get the over $60 billion in funding for the proxy war in Ukraine that it’s requested from Congress. Republicans are still holding out for a border deal, and it’s unclear when an agreement will be reached.
Based on Russia’s foreign currency reserves at the time when they were frozen, there are about $67 billion in frozen Russian funds in the US. The bulk, approximately $200 billion, is frozen in Europe, and according to the Bloomberg report, it’s unclear if the EU will be on board with the plan.
Theft, add that to the genocide.
Like a boxer who has received too many blows to the head, the President and his fellow neocons still seem to have the idea that Russia has no solutions for every “game changer” they throw out. It doesn’t matter how many times they are proven wrong. Nor can they see how much damage they are doing to themselves (us). They will continue the fight until the last Ukrainian dies, or until the people of Ukraine rise up against their real enemy.
From Scheerpost: https://scheerpost.com/2024/01/10/the-russian-art-of-war-how-the-west-led-ukraine-to-defeat/
“The tragedy of modern war is that the young men die fighting each other – instead of their real enemies back home in the capitals.”
– Edward Abbey
US politicians and policy makers are drug dealers and thieves. Americans need to dissolve bonds with the federal government and form a more perfect union.
No, they don’t.
The founders said periodic resets would be necessary and good… I’ve been informed.
Yes. Those “resets” are called elections. You Confederate lovers need to knock it the f**k off.
You actually think a totalitarian military empire that has been at war for your entire life has something going for it beside 30 or 40 trillion in debts?
Elections are worthless if both sides are the same.
A one time misuse of the banking system that will cause/accelerate de-dollarization.
Yes, reparations for all the damage caused to a neighboring country.
F Putin.
You still seem to be enamored by the F-word to appear macho. Real Dons do not swear.
https://www.sciencealert.com/swearing-is-a-sign-of-more-intelligence-not-less-say-scientists
lol
Eat a F king d!k.
No F- NATO, and the Biden regime…both are feckless, and toothless. Neither knows how to win a war, or fight.
Shut up, Putin lover.
Has that ever been done before by any nation? Did Lenin et al do this when they came to power? Or was it done against them by the UK and France?
Well, Putin stole natural gas/grain rich land from Ukraine with trillions in value.
So there you have it. Putin the thief has done.
Putin didn’t steal anything..Ukraine chose to abide by US diktats and snub any peace efforts. Why should Putin reward a nazi like Zelensky who wants to harm and kill all of the citizens in these territories who are primarily of Russian descent?
oh, another unpaid or very under paid Putin lover in the blog.
Way to go uncle Sam…! That sure speeds up de-dollarization significantly…!
The currency that the world uses? Sure, son! Buy your Bitcoin! Hahaha. Tool!
Great comment from an irrational thinker…!
The use of the dollar is shrinking even as we speak.
Thank you for bring up the form of exchange. Scheerpost: https://scheerpost.com/2024/01/10/central-bank-digital-currencies-cbdcs-near-universal-roll-out-signals-international-power-grab/
no, is not.
Indeed – all stats show De-Dollarizatijn accelerating. Takes years but it’s happening
So Biden is stealing from the Russians to help the most corrupt nation on this planet, Ukraine. Does this mean that the POTUS can at anytime, freeze our assets and then turn around and steal them? Doesn’t Russia have the right to take the USA to court to have their assets unfrozen? If they become unfrozen, does Biden pay it back, does Ukraine pay it back, or does America just default? We have to vote out ALL the Republicans and Democrats, who are insane with power and destroying our Republic.
You really should write something for us Ginah!….
Criminally obtained assets get seized all the time. Go ahead, take the US to international court. Might be that Putin gets his a** handed to him!
F**k around and find out.
Scheerpost: https://scheerpost.com/2024/01/10/the-russian-art-of-war-how-the-west-led-ukraine-to-defeat/
Putin has given America an utter kick in the face in Ukraine, and has the might to do much more. America’s political fiends are too bloated with lobby money to see straight, but they will should they pursue this theft.
Have to ask Iran about it. They have been trying to get their money since 1980.
It is still called stealing US.
Is it called stealing when Russia takes land from Ukraine?
They will burn through it like a teen ager with a credit card and then they will be right back where they are now. Wont take long
Must have missed something. How was this Johnson character considered an improvement over McCarthy?
Well thievery is nothing special to a president who has no guiding principles.
Anything for some more denaro, right Joey two-wars? Gotta keep shoveling our tax dollars to those ethically pure Ukrainians!
The Biden administration and every administration before him beginning 2000: murderers, pirates, thieves, liars.
Add dumbass Putin to it.
FJB and his puppet master POS obama.
The US political class in both parties especially now are beholden to the military industrial complex, AIPAC, and any lobby that feeds them money. All of these politicians detest the American people and the rule of law. Should these fiends in congress vote for more thievery the dollar will decline further, and America will be stained in utter perpetuity..
Ukrainians should all hope the US does not use Russia’s frozen assets to help fund the war. Because the only result would be to prolong the agony of watching Ukraine’s men suffer and die for no good reason. More funding would be a poisoned gift.
There is no path for Ukraine to win this war. The Wunderwaffen have all been tried and have failed. The great counteroffensive has failed. Ukraine is bankrupt and Zelensky admits that. And NATO is using up weapons faster than the military-industrial complex can build them.
It’s time for this war to end.