The president of the United States, Joe Biden, seeks to pay for military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine with the sale of yachts and other assets seized from Russian oligarchs.
To achieve this, the president is promoting a legislative package that would allow the US government to carry out such sales and use the money obtained for that purpose.
Biden spoke on the matter on Thursday morning from the White House:
“We are going to seize your yachts, your luxury homes and other profits misbegotten from the kleptocracy of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin. These are bad guys,” he added.
The US president explained that the legislation “would create new procedures for the seizure and confiscation of these properties and will ensure that when the assets of the oligarchs are sold, the funds can be used directly to repair the damage caused by Russia and help build Ukraine”.
The above is part of the president’s call to Congress to approve $ additional billion in economic, humanitarian and security aid for Ukraine.
Biden considered that it is “critical” that the United States continue to provide assistance to Ukraine as it fights the Russian invasion, and that current funds have been depleted.
“The cost of this fight is not cheap, but giving in to aggression will be more costly if we allow it to happen”, expressed the president.
Biden emphasized: “Either we support the Ukrainian people while they defend their country or we stay out of my Meanwhile, the Russians continue with their atrocities and aggressions in the Ukraine”.
Several properties of Russian oligarchs linked to Putin, valued at millions of dollars, have been seized by the United States.
Since Russia began its large-scale invasion, more than a dozen yachts with an approximate value of 2500 million dollars have been seized around the world.
This action was taken by the United States and their allies believing that attacking wealthy people would prompt them to convince President Vladimir Putin not to continue his war against Ukraine.
The House of Representatives voted on Wednesday 417-8 in favor of urge the Biden administration to liquidate assets seized from Russian oligarchs to help Ukraine.