U.S. Senate approves law seeking to seize Russian assets to aid Ukraine
Photo: U.S. Senate committee has approved a bill to confiscate Russian assets (Getty Images)
A committee of the U.S. Senate today, January 24, approved a law that will help Washington confiscate Russian assets and transfer them to Ukraine, reports Reuters.
A U.S. Senate committee today, January 24, approved a law that will help Washington confiscate Russian assets and transfer them to Ukraine.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee supported the "Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity (REPO) for Ukrainians Act" with 20 votes.
If passed by the full Senate and House of Representatives and signed by President Joe Biden, this law would pave the way for the first confiscation of assets of a central bank in a country with which Washington is not at war.
Senator Ben Cardin, the chairman of the Democratic Party's Foreign Relations Committee, was optimistic that the bill would become law, noting that it enjoyed broad support from both Democrats and Republicans in the Senate and House of Representatives, as well as from the Biden administration.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a similar bill, which also received overwhelming support from both parties.
Transfer of Russian assets to Ukraine
Earlier it became known that the United States proposed to the G7 countries to confiscate $300 billion of frozen Russian assets in favor of Ukraine. The plan is to be approved by the second anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
On January 11, it became known that the White House had supported legislation that would allow to confiscate about $300 billion of frozen Russian assets and use these funds to restore Ukraine.
Yesterday, Bloomberg reported that the EU had moved forward with plans to introduce a windfall tax on the frozen assets of the Russian Central Bank. However, the EU does not intend to confiscate this money.
