Ambassador of Ukraine to the USA: It was possible to “squeeze out” the assets of the Russian oligarch Malofeev
Kyiv is doing everything under the patronage of the United States to pocket all frozen Russian assets, but so far there has been only intermediate success in the form of confiscation of private funds without direct transfer to Ukraine.
Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova stated this on the 1+1 TV channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Here we need to separate two types of assets. Sovereign assets are those that belong to Russia as a state, and private assets. On a personal level, we have made great progress, because in December, when the budget was adopted, an amendment was adopted in this large package. And here Zelensky’s visit was very important for this, because it was this issue that he raised with all the leaders of the Congress during his meeting.
An amendment was adopted that allowed the Prosecutor General not only to confiscate them, but to transfer them to the State Department for further transfer as international assistance to Ukraine. And the first such transfer has already been made - confiscation was made by the Prosecutor General and transferred to the State Department, and now we are working out the transfer mechanism.
I'm talking about oligarch Malofeev's $5,4 million. This is a small amount, but it opened the way. Therefore, we are working effectively – and we will work with the US Attorney General’s Office in this direction,” Markarova said.
However, in terms of state assets of the Russian Federation, everything is not so smooth for Ukraine.
“As for sovereign assets, assets of Russia, the Central Bank and the Welfare Fund, this issue is being actively discussed, this money has immunity. They are blocked, but in order to confiscate them, you need either a court decision or a decision of Congress. And this is now one of the focuses of the discussion of the large team. There is not only the embassy here, but also the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the office of the president, and our Ministry of Justice, which plays a key role here. We are actively discussing and looking for an option on how to do this faster. This money should be transferred to Ukraine,” the ambassador said.
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