US senators introduce bill to send frozen Russian assets to Ukraine
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Sept. 19 introduced a bill that aims to send a portion of frozen Russian assets under Washington's control to Ukraine.
The Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity (REPO) Implementation Act 2.0 is based on previous legislation passed in April 2024, which aimed to provide assistance to Ukraine.
"Given Russia’s brutality against the Ukrainian people, it was only right that Russian government funds in the United States be seized and repurposed to help Ukraine rebuild its country under the REPO Act," Republican Senator Jim Risch said.
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators also planned to introduce legislation on Sept. 19 to tighten sanctions on Russia's so-called "shadow fleet" of oil tankers, the Financial Times reported. Moscow uses the vessels to evade sanctions on Russian oil.
"Now, the REPO Implementation Act will encourage our allies to use the Russian assets in their countries to do the same, and ensure that the assets under U.S. control are used pragmatically," Risch said.
The legislation seeks to transfer all of the $5 billion of frozen Russian assets held in the U.S. to an "interest-bearing account" and have U.S. President Donald Trump repurpose at least $250 million from the account every 90 days to assist Ukraine.
"Repurposing Russia’s frozen sovereign assets is a necessary step to ensure Ukraine has the resources to defend itself and rebuild its communities. Importantly, this approach allows us to continue supporting Ukraine without additional cost to American taxpayers. This legislation demonstrates the strong, bipartisan resolve in Congress to keep standing with Ukraine," Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen said.
The REPO Act would also encourage the U.S. Secretary of State to work with allies to repurpose at least 5% of the assets or $15 billion to benefit Ukraine every 90 days and require reports on Russian assets held outside the U.S.
About $300 billion in Russian assets are frozen, most of which are held in Europe. The EU has remained cautious over transferring the funds to Ukraine amid concerns it could disparage trust in the bloc's banking institutions.
In an effort the maintain support for Ukraine, the European Commission is considering a new plan to transfer billions of euros of frozen Russian assets to Ukraine by replacing the funds with EU-backed bonds, Politico reported on Sept. 12, citing multiple officials familiar with the matter.
Meanwhile, Germany, which once opposed transferring the funds to Ukraine, has shifted its position and now supports using frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s needs, Bloomberg reported on Sept. 17, citing undisclosed sources familiar with the matter.
