Why $50 billion aid to Ukraine from the West is problematic: Political scientist explains
Photo: The West may delay aid to Ukraine (Getty Images)
The $50 million aid from the West to Ukraine is in question. But Ukraine has already started working on this issue, says Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Penta Center for Applied Political Studies, in a commentary to RBC-Ukraine.
Fesenko explained that during the trip to the United States, the Ukrainian delegation also dealt with providing Ukraine with financial assistance worth $50 million.
Politico published information that the West may delay the provision of financial assistance to Ukraine due to the success of US Vice President Kamala Harris in the election campaign.
“In fact, the political decision is about this loan, which should be secured by Russian assets. A $50 billion loan for Ukraine. The decision was made at the NATO summit. It is a political decision. But it needs to be legally agreed upon. The mechanisms need to be agreed upon. What is the problem there? This loan is not for us, it is a loan for the countries that will participate in this financial assistance package. And they have to divide the money among themselves, and who gives it to them. And this is where the problem arose,” the political scientist explained.
He says that the problem is that there is no decision on how to legally formalize the coordination of interests and mechanisms.
“As always, when it comes to money, they bargain. This is the main problem. What I agree with in the Politico article is that this initiative itself was actually born out of fear of Trump's victory. That's why they wanted to make a decision before the US election, and since the outcome may be different now... So yes, the struggle for who should have a quota in this loan continued and to some extent intensified,” Fesenko said.
He notes that if Kamala Harris becomes president and if the US Democratic Party manages to gain a majority in the lower house of Congress, then there are chances that Ukraine will receive continued military and financial assistance from the United States.
“So there are certain risks. This is a very important topic for us. These 50 billion are very important. I think Zelenskyy will meet with Kamala Harris when he is in the United States and will definitely talk about this. And now I think he will also raise this issue at international meetings. But still, it's not as critical as it might seem after this article (in Politico - ed.),” he said.
Back in early July, the European Commission was planning to propose “very soon” a $50 billion loan package under the frozen Russian assets to complete the legislative work by the end of the year.
At the same time, the EU countries planned to provide up to 60% of the necessary funds for a loan to Ukraine.
However, this statement had come before US President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race. According to Politico, the process of allocating funds has slowed down after the announcement that Harris will run on behalf of the Democratic Party.
