All news

US senators believe Trump can use seized Russian assets to help Kiev

The European Union, Canada, the United States and Japan froze $300 billion of Russia's assets after the start of the special military operation

WASHINGTON, July 13. /TASS/. The American senators who authored the bill on new sanctions against Russia believe that President Donald Trump can use frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine.

"I don't want to get ahead of the president, but stay tuned about seized assets. The Europeans want to limit the interest on the assets to go to Ukraine. [Treasury Secretary Scott] Bessent wants to go further. Stay tuned about a plan to go after the seized assets more aggressively. Stay tuned for a plan where America will begin to sell to our European allies tremendous amount of weapons that can benefit Ukraine," Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican, South Carolina, on the Russian list of terrorists and extremists) said in an interview with CBS television.

Senator Richard Blumenthal (Democrat, Connecticut) said that "the seized property, the seized assets from Russia can be accessed by the Europeans. They are devising a plan to do it, at least for a part of those assets, billions of dollars in the interest that is derived from very, very important resources for Ukraine and the five billion that the United States has also could be accessed. And I think it's time to do it."

On July 8, Trump said he could approve the passage of a bill on new sanctions against Russia through Congress. It was introduced in early April by a bipartisan group of Senate members. The main authors of the document were Graham and Blumenthal. Their initiative also provides for secondary sanctions against Russia's trading partners. The senators' proposal specified 500% import duties on imports to the United States from the countries that buy oil, gas, uranium and other goods from Russia. On July 2, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wished the United States realize that anti-Russian sanctions are not working and are hitting their very initiators.

The European Union, Canada, the United States and Japan froze $300 billion of Russia's assets after the start of the special military operation. Of these, about $5-6 billion are in the United States, while the bulk of them are in Europe, including at the Euroclear international site in Belgium, where $210 billion are stored. Zakharova warned that Moscow will immediately take steps in response to the possible confiscation of its assets in the West.