Senators urge Trump to transfer $300 billion in frozen Russian assets to Kyiv – media

A group of US senators from both parties is insisting that the administration of US President Donald Trump transfer and encourage allies to transfer more than $300 billion in confiscated Russian assets to Ukraine, rather than simply using debt interest to support Kyiv. This was reported by Reuters, citing a letter to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed by Republican Senators Todd Young and Lindsey Graham and Democrats Richard Blumenthal and Tim Kaine, UNN reports.

Details

The signatories are particularly interested in how the Trump administration views the use of all financial instruments at its disposal to increase pressure on Russia, and whether the administration believes that assets held by the US and the EU should be used as leverage in negotiations with Russia to end the war.

This letter is a rare example of senior Republicans publicly pressuring the Trump administration to be tougher on Moscow. Pro-Ukrainian Republicans in Congress have been largely silent since Trump tilted US policy more toward Russia,

It is noted that the senators also ask whether the administration intends to develop a strategy to encourage the EU, G7 and other allies to use sovereign Russian assets and whether the administration will support Ukraine’s use of Russian sovereign assets under US control to purchase defense equipment.

The authors recall that after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the United States and its allies banned transactions with the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance of Russia, blocking sovereign Russian assets worth $300-350 billion.

These are mainly European, American and British government bonds held in a European securities depository. Sources said that only about $7 billion is held in US financial institutions,

The authors add that Washington has never before confiscated the assets of a central bank of a country with which it is not at war.

Recall

A few days ago, it became known that the UK government has frozen more than £25 billion of Russian assets since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. This was a result of the toughest sanctions Russia has faced.

Ukraine received another 1 billion euros from the EU at the expense of frozen Russian assets20.03.25, 10:46 • 10329 views