US okays the first transfer of seized Russian money to Ukraine

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.

Read also:

• Canada to seize an An-124 from Russia and give it to Ukraine
• Nearly $60 billion worth of sanctioned Russians’ assets blocked or frozen – REPO
• Credit Suisse has frozen over CHF 17 billion in Russian assets
• Estonia plans to seize Russian assets and deliver the funds to Ukraine
• Bloomberg: Germany open to seizing Russian assets to help Ukraine rebuild
• Canada is creating a precedent to confiscate a sanctioned Russian oligarch’s assets
• EC can set up a structure for managing and investing Russia’s frozen assets for the benefit of Ukraine
• EU: Russia’s frozen assets to support Ukraine’s reconstruction
• EU prepares to confiscate frozen Russian assets for the benefit of Ukraine