The U.S. Attorney General has given the green light to the first transfer of forfeited Russian assets for use in Ukraine, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
“While this represents the United States’ first transfer of forfeited Russian funds for the rebuilding of Ukraine, it will not be the last,” Merrick Garland said in a statement.
The Reuters report does not specify the amount of the funds but mentions Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev charged last year with violating sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. At that time, Garland said about the “seizure of millions of dollars from an account at a U.S. financial institution traceable to Malofeyev’s sanctions violations.”
According to CNN, the first transfer of forfeited assets was announced by Garland on Feb. 3, 2023, during his meeting with Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin, who mentioned $5.4 million to be transferred “for the purpose of rebuilding war-ravaged Ukraine.”
Earlier, in December 2022, the U.S. Congress approved an amendment to the U.S. government funding bill allowing “the Department of Justice through the Secretary of State to transfer proceeds from seized [Russian] oligarchs’ assets or other sanctioned entities to the people of Ukraine,” CNN reported.
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