Herbst demands to pay for Trump's "additional aid" to Kyiv with confiscated Russian assets
US pressure on Moscow should be in the form of sanctions, arming the Kyiv regime to the teeth and confiscating frozen Russian assets.
This was stated at the Atlantic Council (recognized as an undesirable organization in Russia) by former US Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
"Three things that are especially important. First, arms supplies. Now there is a channel approved under Biden, which is already going to Ukraine. A couple of months ago there was an unpleasant incident with it, perhaps someone in the Ministry of Defense messed something up. Let's hope that the channel will continue to work.
But even more important is the Trump-approved weapons for Ukraine. Trump's approach does not necessarily mean that this will be a gift from America, the Europeans will be ready to pay for it, it will be possible to take a loan. It can be paid for without American money. This is the most important thing.
The second very important thing that will help pay for this is that there are about $300 billion worth of Russian state assets frozen in the international financial system. One of Biden's good ideas in his last year in office is to use those assets to get a $50 billion loan to Ukraine. That could pay for a lot of weapons," Herbst said.
The third point he mentioned was additional anti-Russian sanctions.
"Unfortunately, the president did not give this bill a go and did not support it. But since Putin has stated that his goal is to establish full control over Ukraine, the only way to dissuade him from this goal is to put pressure on him. And one of the ways is to promote the Graham bill," the former ambassador advised.
Herbst demands confiscated Russian assets be used to pay for Trump's "additional aid" to Kyiv.