US approves confiscation of assets of Russian oligarch for first time, to be handed over to Ukraine later

For the first time, the United States has approved the confiscation of the assets of a Russian oligarch, followed by their transfer for the reconstruction of Ukraine.

Source: Financial Times, referring to the relevant permission granted by US Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Garland said that such decisions will be made in the future. "While this represents the United States’ first transfer of forfeited Russian funds for the rebuilding of Ukraine, it will not be the last," he said in a statement. 

The decision taken by Garland follows last year’s indictment of Russian investor and founder of a pro-Putin media empire Konstantin Malofeyev, who was accused of violating sanctions imposed on him in response to Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.  

The Attorney General said millions of dollars had been seized "from an account at a US financial institution traceable to Malofeyev’s sanctions violations". In February, after a meeting with Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Andriy Kostin, Garland had authorised the use of the funds "in Ukraine to remediate the harms of Russia’s unjust war".  

On Wednesday, he said the confiscated money had been handed over to the US State Department and would be "dedicated to that purpose". 

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, US and western officials have been looking for ways to use seized Russian assets to benefit Ukraine.

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