Biden receives support for a bill on confiscation of russia's frozen assets in favor of Ukraine – Bloomberg

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden supports a bill that would allow the United States to confiscate part of russia's frozen assets to direct them to rebuilding Ukraine. The bill provides for the confiscation of USD 300 billion.

This was reported by the Bloomberg agency with reference to a memorandum of the National Security Council (NSC).

The document of the NSC, which was sent to the U.S. Senate Committee on International Relations the day before, states that the White House "in principle" welcomes the bill, which makes it possible to confiscate the frozen assets of the russian federation.

"The bill will provide the executive power with the necessary powers to confiscate russian sovereign assets for the benefit of Ukraine," reads one of the three documents obtained by journalists.

The agency writes that the White House's support for this step arose in light of how Republicans in Congress blocked the allocation of aid to Ukraine.

It is noted that Washington is thinking about how to properly balance this decision so that the confiscation of russian assets does not spoil the reputation of the U.S. financial system and does not provoke the flight of countries from the dollar.

From the documents obtained by Bloomberg, it also became clear that the Biden administration wants to coordinate this move with the allies of the G7, especially European ones because they keep about USD 200 billion of frozen russian archives.

The NSC refused to comment on this information. Democratic Senator Ben Cardin, chairman of the Senate Committee on International Relations, also refused to comment.

"Together with our G7 partners, we are exploring all options consistent with our legal systems and international law to help Ukraine obtain compensation from russia," the U.S. Department of State said in a statement.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, in October 2023, the United States and the European Union published a joint statement in which they promised to study ways of using the frozen assets of the russian federation for the benefit of Ukraine.

A few days ago, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban put forward demands for unblocking aid to Ukraine.

Hungary continues to block the European Union's decision to provide Ukraine with about EUR 50 billion over the next four years.