Washington: As the United States Congress “works through its various mechanisms and procedures”, patience is running out for a concerned Joe Biden administration which says it cannot “under any circumstances” allow America’s support for Ukraine to be interrupted.
Secretary Antony J. Blinken during a Conversation at the University of Texas at Austin Moderated by Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison today (IST), agreed with the latter to use frozen Russian assets to pay for “some of the humanitarian reconstruction and all of the things that Ukraine needs right now”.
Blinken pointed out that these frozen assets amounted to about $300 billion, but most of it was in Europe, not in the United States. “So we’re looking at what legal authorities we may have, the Europeans may have, to actually use those assets for Ukraine,” he said. He added: “My own view is you broke it, you bought it. And so the Russians having broken it, they ought to pay for it. And one way to do that would be through the use of these assets. We have to make sure that there is a legal basis to do that. And as I said, since most of the assets are in Europe, Europeans also have to be convinced that there’s a basis to do it.”
Significantly, the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) disclosed it recently even transferred seized weapons from Iran heading to Yemen’s Houthis, to Ukraine. When asked whether the transfer of Iranian weaponry, the export of it by a third country, meaning the United States, violated the United Nations arms embargo, Vedant Patel, one of the spokespersons for the US State Department, said. ” That’s our understanding, that it’s not”.
Patel said this was not the first time that the US seized Iranian security systems or assets. “But I don’t want to just speculate or offer an analysis on the provision of our new strategy when it comes to the provision of our security assistance to our Ukrainian partners. I think we have a very clear track record of ensuring that our Ukrainian partners have the systems and the assets that they need to defend themselves, and I don’t want to speculate on if there will be more or less of these kinds of transfers.”
President Biden seems concerned that a lapse in support for even a short period of time could make all the difference on the battlefield if new funding is not made available in time by the US Congress for Ukraine.
“So this is something that we’re going to continue to work closely with our partners in Congress on and continue to coordinate directly,” Patel said. He added: “I am not going to get ahead of a speaker’s race, but it’s been clear to us that there is a majority in both the House and the Senate that support continuing to help and support our Ukrainian partners. That is still the case. Nothing there has changed, and Congress should keep the commitment it’s made to the people of Ukraine to fight against this kind of aggression.”
The Biden administration has repeatedly stressed the importance of the kind of continued funding to Ukraine. President Biden had even convened a call with allies and partners to coordinate the ongoing support for the people of Ukraine “as they defend their freedom and independence against Russia’s brutal invasion”. The leaders discussed efforts to provide Ukraine with the ammunition and weapon systems it needs to defend its territory against Russian aggression, strengthen Ukraine’s air defences, and protect its critical infrastructure from Russia’s aerial assaults in the coming months.
“I will just note, though, that President Biden, under his leadership, we have developed and established quite the coalition that has been able to provide our Ukrainian partners with the kind of systems and assistance that it has needed to continue to defend itself, and that’s also in large part about what this call was about,” Patel explained.
– global bihari bureau
