New Delhi: The Kremlin on Thursday criticised a decision of the US government to transfer USD 5.4 million, confiscated from Russian oligarchs, to Ukraine to help support and rehabilitate their veterans, news agency AFP reported. Terming the move, announced by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Kyiv, as “illegal”, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said any such actions will be contested.
Peskov, as quoted by the news agency, said, “We consider all cases related to the seizure and other withholding of any funds related to state property or private property of the Russian Federation to be illegal. One way or another they will lead to legal proceedings.”
“This is hard to imagine and it goes against everything in international law and those countries’ national law. But as soon as an opportunity presents itself, we will defend our rights,” Peskov said, adding, “Not a single case of such illegal retention will be left unattended.”
According to a report by news agency Reuters, Peskov and a few other Russian businessmen had secured court rulings in European nations finding such fund transfer illegal.
According to the report, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, at a joint press conference with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, on Wednesday said that the US government has decided to transfer USD 5.4 million confiscated from Russian oligarchs to Ukraine to help support and rehabilitate the Ukrainian veterans.
According to reports, Blinken, during his visit to Kyiv, announced a new aid to Ukraine totalling over USD 1 billion, which includes USD 665 million in military and civilian sectors. The aid includes HIMARS missile launch systems, Javelin antitank weapons, Abrams tanks and other weapons systems, a report by Al Jazeera quoted White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre as saying.
“In the ongoing counteroffensive, progress has accelerated in the past few weeks. This new assistance will help sustain it and build further momentum,” Al Jazeera quoted Blinken as saying.