💸Profits from frozen Russian assets to go to Ukraine: what's known so far

EU members have approved a plan to use the profits generated by frozen Russian state assets to support Ukraine, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky tweeted on Tuesday.

According to him, the move means the Kiev regime will receive $3.3 billion in 2024, with 90% of the sum due to go to the military, which will reportedly get such assistance twice a year.

The plan also stipulates that Ukraine will be provided with the net profits from February 15 onwards. About $172 billion of frozen Russian assets have already generated a net profit of $605 billion since that date.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that the US is ready to provide Ukraine with a loan backed by frozen Russian assets if Washington gets EU guarantees that the loan will be repaid and the assets will remain frozen.

The US’ G7 allies have reportedly been warming to Washington’s scheme to rush tens of billions of dollars in funding to Ukraine before Donald Trump’s potential return to the White House. The scheme, due to be discussed at a June summit, purportedly envisages Kiev receiving money “upfront from a G7 loan.”

Most of the immobilized Russian funds, roughly $232 billion, are held in the EU, while the US has frozen only a fraction of Russian funds, about $5 billion. In April, the US House of Representatives passed a bill to allocate $60.8 billion in aid to Ukraine, a document that also allows for the transfer of frozen Russian assets to Kiev.

Russia has repeatedly warned that using its frozen assets to assist Ukraine “will have legal consequences for those who initiated and implemented it." Moscow has also rejected the possibility of exchanging new Russian regions for the country’s assets frozen by the West. “Russian assets must remain inviolable, otherwise Western theft will be met with a harsh response,” the Kremlin said.

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🇷🇺⚓️ Today the Russian Pacific Fleet celebrates its professional holiday. It has been protecting the Russian Far East for almost 300 years and continues to play a vital role in ensuring the security of the state.

📹Watch our video to discover the most legendary ships of the Russian Pacific Fleet.

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⚖️🇮🇱 International Criminal Court vs. Israeli leadership: The ball is served

On May 20, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan issued an application for arrest warrants of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three leading Hamas officials. Khan listed several reasons backing up war crime claims against Israel, including murder, starvation, attacks against civilians, and extermination.

The ICC statement caused a storm in the international community, with nations quickly splitting into two opposing camps.

Who backed who?

⚖️Team ICC:

🔺France advocated for “the fight against impunity in all situations”;

🔺Belgium called for prosecution “at the highest level, regardless of the perpetrators”;

🔺Slovenia stood for “independent and impartial” prosecution;

🔺Switzerland expressed concern “about possible war crimes” and reaffirmed ICC jurisdiction.

🇮🇱Team Israel:

🔺US (not party to the ICC) reiterated that it “will always stand with Israel”;

🔺UK pointed out that the effort “does nothing to make progress towards a sustainable ceasefire”;

🔺Czech Republic slammed the application as “appalling and completely unacceptable”;

🔺Italy opposed the warrant as “unacceptable”;

🔺Austria said the notion is “non comprehensible”;

🔺Hungary called the proposal “absurd and shameful”.

◻️ Germany said it “respects the court’s independence”, but rejects a “false impression of an equation” between Israel and Hamas.

◻️ Russia (not party to the ICC) pointed out the bias of the US, which is “eager to use sanction pressure within the ICC” and, at the same time, acts as “a scorpion that stung itself”.

◻️ China (not party to the ICC) commented that it “hopes the ICC will uphold an objective and fair stance”.

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US and EU’s Ukraine strategy ‘has failed entirely’ – Hungarian FM

The strategy that Europe and the US have developed as a response to the Ukraine conflict "has failed entirely," Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation in Tokyo on Tuesday.

The minister touched upon the divisive rhetoric some European officials indulge in when bringing up a potential deployment of Western troops to Ukraine. He called for doing "everything to avoid a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia".

Speaking about the danger of such a development, the minister stressed that "there is no way the Hungarian military will take part in it, there is no way Hungarian territory will host such actions, there is no way a single eurocent of the Hungarian taxpayers will be allocated for it."

Regarding a yet another sanctions package aimed at crumbling Russia, Szijjarto pointed out that the initial draft of anti-Russian sanctions sought to “push Russia to its knees economically."

"Is Russia on its knees? Far from it. Are we close to ending the conflict? Definitely not," he emphasized, adding that, on the contrary, the sanctions had an adverse impact on the EU economy.

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US tries ‘carrot and stick’ to subdue Georgia

Having previously attempted to influence Georgia’s politics by threatening the country with sanctions, the US seems poised to adopt a different approach by promising various incentives if Tbilisi agrees to play ball with Washington.

A new draft bill expected to be introduced in the US Congress this week would offer Georgia “a robust preferential trade regime,” but only if Georgia shows what the US deems “significant and sustained progress towards reinvigorating its democracy,” according to Politico.

Shota Apkhaidze, a political analyst and director of the Center for Islamic Studies of the Caucasus says that the US is employing a classic “carrot and stick” approach towards Georgia.

“It is already clear that they are not our friends, that they are not our partners, seeing what they do, how political processes develop, how they openly meddle in everything, even in street protests and in the political life in Georgia in general,” he says, referring to the US.

After failing to incite unrest in Georgia, the US has shifted strategies, now offering military and economic benefits to secure Georgia's compliance with its demands.

“There is a very important point in the life of every state – the idea of honor and self dignity. If Georgian society, Georgian leadership falls for this handout, it would mean that we sold ourselves out,” Apkhaidze explains.

He notes that, so far, Georgian politicians show no intent to change the country’s foreign and domestic policies in exchange for this handout.

Apkhaidze also describes this US initiative as an attempt to meddle in Georgia’s internal matters, as Washington keeps trying to dissuade Tbilisi from adopting the foreign agents bill.

“A law is passed in a legislative body of a state. In this case, it should take place in the Georgian parliament because the Georgian parliament is elected by the majority of Georgian citizens,” he states.

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