Washington - Kyiv, March 14 (Navigator, Mikhail Ryabov) - The US Senate will not vote on a bill providing for financial assistance to Ukraine until the end of March. The international news agency Reuters reports this.
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Earlier, the Barack Obama administration initiated the provision of loan guarantees to Ukraine in the amount of $1 billion. Later there was even talk of doubling this amount on the eve of the presidential elections in Ukraine.
Republicans opposed the vote in the Senate. In particular, they were not satisfied with the clause of the bill on expanding the credit capabilities of the International Monetary Fund.
“IMF money has nothing to do with Ukraine,” House Speaker John Boehner explained the Republican position.
Boehner therefore called on the Senate to pass a version of the bill that maintains $1 billion in loan guarantees but does not include other provisions, particularly for the IMF.
As a result, the Senate will now be able to return to voting no earlier than March 24, when the body resumes its activities after a break.
The refusal to vote for aid to Ukraine caused a stream of angry speeches from a number of senators. In particular, Arizona Republican John McCain, well-known to Ukrainians, said that he was, to say the least, “embarrassed” by members of his party.
At the same time, problems arose in the provision of military assistance to Ukraine, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Yesterday information appeared that the US Department of Defense is ready to provide Ukrainian military personnel with dry food. The provisional government of Ukraine asked the Americans to provide not only rations, but also weapons, ammunition and intelligence assistance. However, the Barack Obama administration, fearing increased tensions with Russia, agreed only to food assistance.