Help: US Preparing to transfer to Ukraine frozen Russian assets
In the US, the issue has a long prehistory. The mechanism of confiscation of Russian assets was first spelled out in the HR 6930 bill. It is about capital or property owned by any foreign person under sanctions and has received wealth through the support or corruption of the Putin regime. The House of Representatives voted in favor of the HR 6930 bill on April 27, 2022. The document was supported by 417 congressmen and only eight opposed. It would seem that the road for confiscation is open.
However, according to Igor Chudovsky, the governing partner of JSC "Chudovsky and partners", in the United States before the adoption of the bill in the Senate and the signature of the President, the document cannot come into force. And at this stage, the initiative came into a dead end. "Although the HR 6930 bill was not adopted, its provisions could be a law in case of their inclusion in another bill. And legislative texts are usually submitted at the same bigger laws, " - says Chudovsky.
According to the interlocutor of the focus, the events developed precisely on such a scenario and on December 22, 2022, the US Senate unanimously approved the amendment of the Republican Senator Lindsey Graham to the Budget Law for 2023. "This amendment will allow the Ministry of Justice through the State Secretary to transfer income from arrested assets of oligarchs or other subcontracting organizations of the people of Ukraine," - quotes CNN of the author of the bill.
According to Lindsey Graham, such a decision will be a blessing of the long -suffering people of Ukraine, a relief for US taxpayers and a bad day for oligarchs (from Russia).
According to Timothy Milovanov, the President of the Kyiv School of Economics, Minister of Economics Development (2019-2020), adviser to the Head of the Presidential Office of Ukraine on the use of oligarchs' assets mainly for the restoration of Ukraine (about $ 30 billion, which appear in the Repo report-created in the United States by the International group from the search for Russian assets), as well as funds, confiscated violations of sanctions.
Obviously, these funds will be provided to Ukraine in the form of technical assistance. Igor Chudovsky adds that this amendment will allow the use of sales and income from confiscated assets to support the Ukrainian people, including private yachts, planes, mansions and expensive works of the art of sub -Russian oligarchs and organizations that support Putin. However, experts surveyed by focus doubts that the process of transferring to Ukraine confiscated billions will be fast.
In particular, Vitaliy Shapran, an economist, a member of the Financial Analytists Society predicts that most of the USA Ukraine will receive in 2023 in the form of military assistance. And Timothy Milovanov considers it likely to receive some of the locked assets this year, but warns that such processes take time. That is, it is more realistic to say that it will take several years to receive the money of Kremlin oligarchs and sub -Russian companies.