Washington Uses Profits From Frozen Russian Assets to Transfer $20 Billion For Ukraine |
The U.S. Treasury Department moved $20 billion yesterday to a World Bank fund for Ukraine’s economic recovery. The funds are part of a long-negotiated effort by Ukraine’s backers, including Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, to use the profits from some $300 billion in frozen Russian assets to pay for reconstruction. The loan was designed to provide support without burdening taxpayers in donating countries; Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen hailed the “creative policymaking and unity of the [Group of Seven]” to make “Russia increasingly bear the costs of its illegal war.”
The U.S. government had for a while considered earmarking $10 billion of the $20 billion total for military aid, but opted against it as it would require congressional approval—a permission that has been increasingly difficult to reach on Ukraine aid. At the two-year mark of the war, a February report by the World Bank, United Nations, and European Commission estimated it would cost around $486 billion to rebuild Ukraine over the next decade. (Reuters, NYT, World Bank)
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“Reviving the Ukrainian economy—and the government’s cash flow—also helps the war effort through additional funds, resources, and motivation,” the Atlantic Council’s John E. Herbst, Olga Khakova, and Charles Lichfield write. “In addition to central government funds, a myriad of Western grants and loans need to be tied to individual projects. The innovative systems designed to implement this are up and running but not always used to their full potential.”
“It’s an economic lifeline for a war-torn country and the culmination of months of negotiations by Yellen and U.S. officials with their G7 and European counterparts. But most significantly, it’s one of the few Biden-era policies that the incoming Trump administration won’t likely be able to undo,” Politico’s Michael Stratford and Sam Sutton write.
Ukraine’s former Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba spoke at CFR this week about Ukraine’s future as change approaches at the White House.
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Middle East and North Africa |
U.S. Would ‘Recognize and Fully Support’ Syrian Government via Inclusive Process |
The new Syrian government should uphold minority rights, facilitate humanitarian aid, prevent the country from being a base for terrorism, and ensure destruction of chemical and biological weapons, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday. Turkey-backed rebels and U.S.-backed Kurdish forces have been clashing in northern Syria, though U.S. mediation helped reach a cease-fire in Manbij, Kurdish-led forces said. Israel carried out at least 350 air strikes across Syria this week so far, prompting calls for restraint from the special UN envoy to Syria and from Iraq and Saudi Arabia. (State Department, Al-Monitor, NYT, WaPo)
CFR expert Bruce Hoffman explains what to know about the players in Syria post regime collapse.
U.S./Yemen: The U.S. Navy foiled a drone and missile attack by Houthi rebels on merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden, U.S. Central Command said yesterday. (Reuters)
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U.S. Conducts First-Ever Ballistic Missile Interception Test From Guam |
Yesterday’s successful test underscores the role the U.S. territory, home to Air Force and Navy facilities, could play in any Pacific war. Washington has plans to establish missile defenses at sixteen sites around the island over the next decade, Reuters reported. (Reuters) CFR’s Clara Fong and Diana Roy overview Guam’s strategic importance to Washington.
South Korea: Police raided the offices of several law enforcement agencies in Seoul today as part of a probe into last week’s declaration of martial law and attempted to raid the presidential office, though faced delays in accessing it. (Yonhap) |
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Indian Defense Minister Meets With Putin in Moscow |
Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh hailed the closeness of India-Russia ties at the start of a three-day official visit to Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The pair discussed numerous aspects of bilateral defense cooperation, India’s defense ministry said without giving details. (Indian Express, PTI)
Afghanistan/Russia: The lower house of Russia’s legislature approved a bill to remove the Taliban from a terrorist list in the first of three required votes. The move puts Russia closer to officially recognizing Afghanistan’s Taliban government, which would make it the first country to do so. (Newsweek)
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Sudan Bombardments Reportedly Kill More Than 127 People in Two Days |
Barrel bombs and shelling by both sides in Sudan’s now twenty-month-long civil war killed a group of mostly civilians, human rights activists said. The news spread as the International Criminal Court today hears closing statements in a trial of alleged war crimes committed in Sudan twenty years ago. (Reuters, RFI)
CFR’s Sabine Baumgartner and Mariel Ferragamo depict refugee realities in a Sudan in crisis.
Ethiopia/Somalia/Turkey: The leaders of Ethiopia and Somalia agreed to meet in Ankara for face-to-face talks for the first time since a dispute broke out over a controversial port use deal, unnamed Somali officials told Voice of America. Ethiopian officials did not immediately confirm the meeting. The deal would allow Ethiopia to use a port in the breakaway territory of Somaliland, which Somalia does not recognize. (VOA)
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France Flies Planes Out of Chad in Start of Military Withdrawal |
France flew two fighter jets out of Chad yesterday as it continues to negotiate the timeline for a broader withdrawal of its military forces from the former French colony. Chad pulled out of their bilateral military cooperation agreement last month, but it is still unclear when to what extent the remaining one thousand French troops in the country will leave. (AP) |
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Dengue Deaths Triple in Latin America, Caribbean in a Climate-Wracked 2024 |
The World Health Organization’s Pan-American Health Organization recorded more than 7,700 dengue fever deaths so far this year in the Caribbean and the Americas, up from 2,467 in 2023. The organization’s director said surging cases—a record high—are “linked directly to climatic events” like higher temperatures, droughts, and flooding. (AP)
For Think Global Health, Neelika Malavige looks at how countries can prepare for climate-fueled dengue.
U.S./Nicaragua: The office of the U.S. Trade Representative is opening a probe into alleged labor rights abuses in Nicaragua that harm fair competition, it announced, citing reports about forced labor and human trafficking. The Nicaraguan government did not comment. (El País)
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Trump Pledges to Ease Permitting for Those Investing Over $1 Billion in United States |
Companies with large-scale investments such as those in the energy and construction sectors will receive expedited approval, including environmental approval, U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump posted on his social network. It is not clear how he would seek to bypass existing agencies that are responsible for permitting. (WSJ) |
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