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Biden asks Congress for $33 billion in military and humanitarian aid in Ukraine

Biden asks Congress for $33 billion in military and humanitarian aid in Ukraine 2

President Joe Biden on Thursday will ask Congress for an additional $33 billion in military and humanitarian assistance for the Ukraine, which officials say could fund the war there for the next five months.

‘The president’s funding request is what we believe it needed to enable Ukraine success over the next five months of this war,’ a senior administration official told reporters on a briefing call.

The money includes $20.4 billion in additional security and military assistance, $8.5 billion in economic assistance, and $3 billion in humanitarian assistance.

The humanitarian assistance includes funds for high thermal blankets, medical supplies, emergency health kits, safe drinking water, direct food support such as wheat and flour, job training, trauma-informed mental health services, and funding for schools.

Bidean also wants to sell the luxury yachts and opulent apartments the U.S. government has seized from Russian oligarchs and then send that money to the Ukraine to help them fight off Vladimir Putin’s forces. 

Biden is asking Congress for an additional $33 billion in military and humanitarian assistance for the Ukraine

Biden is asking Congress for an additional $33 billion in military and humanitarian assistance for the Ukraine

The funding includes $3 billion in humanitarian assistanc - funds for high thermal blankets, medical supplies, emergency health kits, safe drinking water, direct food support such as wheat and flour, job training, trauma-informed mental health services, and funding for schools

The funding includes $3 billion in humanitarian assistanc – funds for high thermal blankets, medical supplies, emergency health kits, safe drinking water, direct food support such as wheat and flour, job training, trauma-informed mental health services, and funding for schools

Biden on Thursday will ask Congress to expand his presidential powers to allow him to do just that.

‘Seize yachts, fund the war,’ White House chief of staff Ron Klain tweeted about the request.

Additionally, in his remarks at the White House later on Thursday morning, Biden will ask lawmakers for billions of dollars in additional U.S. spending to help the Ukrainian military and provide humantarian assistance for its displaced population.

And he will ask lawmakers to make it a criminal offense for a person to ‘knowingly or intentionally possess proceeds directly obtained from corrupt dealings with the Russian government,’ double the statute of limitations for foreign money laundering offenses to 10 years, and expand the definition of ‘racketeering’ under U.S. law to include efforts to evade sanctions.

President Joe Biden wants to sell the luxury yachts and opulent apartments the U.S. government has seized from Russian oligarchs and send money to Ukraine - above is the 'Tango' - the seized 254-foot yacht to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close Putin ally, that is worth an estimated $120 million

President Joe Biden wants to sell the luxury yachts and opulent apartments the U.S. government has seized from Russian oligarchs and send money to Ukraine – above is the ‘Tango’ – the seized 254-foot yacht to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close Putin ally, that is worth an estimated $120 million

More than a dozen yachts, worth approximately $2.5 billion, have been seized in several countries worldwide

More than a dozen yachts, worth approximately $2.5 billion, have been seized in several countries worldwide

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that his country had – thus far – suffered $550 billion in economic damage since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion. The country is seeking at least $5 billion per month in international emergency aid.

Biden’s request comes as there has been a bipartisan push in Washington to more aggressively punish the Russian elite, a group of billionaires – many of whom have made their money off of Putin’s regime.

The Biden administration has already sanctioned about two dozen oligarchs and their family members, even targeting Putin himself.

More than a dozen yachts, worth approximately $2.5 billion, have been seized in several countries worldwide, including the ‘Tango’ – a 254-foot yacht to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close Putin ally, that is worth an estimated $120 million. 

It was seized by the U.S. from its Spanish port earlier this month.

It was the first U.S. seizure of an oligarch’s yacht since Attorney General Merrick Garland and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen assembled a task force known as REPO — short for Russian Elites, Proxies and Oligarchs —  to enforce the sanctions put in place after Putin invaded the Ukraine.

The federal government ‘has sanctioned and blocked vessels and aircraft worth over $1 billion, as well as frozen hundreds of millions of dollars of assets belonging to Russian elites in U.S. bank accounts,’ the White House said. 

The administration also noted that European Union member states have reported freezing over $30 billion in assets, including almost $7 billion in boats, helicopters, real estate and artwork. 

Russia’s billionaires control roughly 30 percent of the nation’s wealth. 

President Joe Biden will also ask Congress for additional money to send to the Ukraine for military and humanitarian assistance

President Joe Biden will also ask Congress for additional money to send to the Ukraine for military and humanitarian assistance

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that his country had - thus far - suffered $550 billion in economic damage since Russia's Feb. 24 invasion

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that his country had – thus far – suffered $550 billion in economic damage since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion

And lawmakers already have pushed to use those seized assets to help the Ukraine. 

The House on Wednesday passed a mostly symbolic measure urging Biden to sell the oligarchs’ frozen assets to give the money to the Ukraine military and humanitarian assistance.  

The legislation is nonbinding, but its 417-to-8 passage reflected the desire among Democrats and Republicans to more aggressively tamp down on Russia.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said it would be taken up by the Senate, where it is expected to pass.  

But the Justice Department needs a congressional change in statue to sort through the mess of legal issues that will need to be unraveled so the United States to repurpose the yachts and extravagant apartments into de facto reparations for Ukrainians.

In his State of the Union address on March 1, President Biden warned oligarchs that the U.S. and European allies would ‘find and seize your yachts, your luxury apartments, your private jets.’

‘We are coming for your ill-begotten gains,’ he said.


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