Biden asks Congress for 31 billion more aid for Ukraine | International

The United States raises its bet on Ukraine. President Joe Biden has asked Congress this Thursday for an additional 33,000 million dollars (about 31,000 million euros) in economic, military and humanitarian aid to defend the country against Russian aggression. That money is added to the package of 13,600 million dollars (12,900 million euros) that the legislators approved last month, and indicates that Washington is preparing for a long war, calculations that a senior White House official has encrypted in “at least five more months.

“The cost of doing nothing in the face of violent aggression in Europe has always been higher than the cost of standing firm against such attacks,” Biden wrote in a letter accompanying the request. “That has always been the case, and it will continue to be so. The United States must face this moment and do what it has to do.”

The new aid package, detailed by a senior administration official who has shared those details with the press on condition of anonymity, includes more than $20 billion for military and security assistance, including $11.4 billion. to buy and replace material already shipped, 2.6 billion to support the deployment of US troops and equipment in the region, and 1.9 billion to strengthen cybersecurity and provide intelligence support. The request also includes $8.5 billion in assistance to keep the Ukrainian economy from collapsing, and $3 billion in humanitarian assistance, including medical supplies and support for Ukrainian refugees, and to mitigate the impact of supply chain disruption. food.

The White House had already advanced hours before the request to the legislative power for several proposals to streamline and centralize the application of sanctions against the Russian “kleptocracy”, in reference to the collaborators and close associates of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

On Thursday, Congress approved with an overwhelming majority (417 to eight) the rule that asked Biden to convert superyachts, bulging checking accounts and luxury apartments of seized oligarchs into money that can be transformed into humanitarian aid for Ukraine. . The agreement between both parties, so exceptional in the current legislature, speaks to the consensus among the legislators on Capitol Hill that the United States must harden its position in the face of Russian aggression. On Wednesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland told the Senate that he had requested special powers to seize and liquidate the assets of those oligarchs.

Since the invasion began on February 24, authorities in allied countries have seized a growing list of superyachts across Europe. One of the most notorious operations resulted from the collaboration of the FBI and the Spanish authorities, who confiscated in Palma de Mallorca a ship named Tango76 meters long valued at 90 million dollars, whose property is attributed to the Russian energy tycoon Viktor F. Vekselberg.

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