U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has approved the transfer of forfeited Russian assets to Ukraine for the first time, Reuters reported. The funds belong to sanctioned Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev who has been accused of funding Russian proxies in Russian-occupied Crimea in 2014.
“While this represents the United States’ first transfer of forfeited Russian funds for the rebuilding of Ukraine, it will not be the last,” Garland said, as quoted by Reuters.
In February, after meeting with Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin, Garland authorized the use of $5.4 million in confiscated assets.
“With my authorization today, the forfeited funds will next be transferred to the State Department to support the people of Ukraine,” he said on Feb. 3, as quoted by CNN.
In December 2022, the U.S. Senate approved an amendment allowing the transfer of seized assets belonging to Russian oligarchs to the people of Ukraine.
A civil forfeiture complaint against Malofeyev was first filed in the U.S. on Nov. 30, 2022, in a move to target individuals with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
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