The US Congress approved the amendment on the confiscation of Russian assets in favor of Kiev

Both houses of the US Parliament approved the draft US budgetfor 2023 by $1.66 trillion. The draft includes an amendment

The House of Representatives (lower house) of the US Congress, following the Senate, approved the draft federal budget for fiscal year 2023 in the amount of $1.66 trillion, reports REUTERS. Thus, both houses of the American Parliament (Congress) supported the draft budget, now it must be signed by President Joe Biden .

Earlier, senators unanimously approved an amendment introduced by Republican Lindsey Graham, allowing the transfer of confiscated assets of Russian businessmen for humanitarian and military assistance to Ukraine. According to the Financial Times, this amendment is also present in the draft approved by the House of Representatives.

President Biden has already announced his readiness to approve a 4155-page document in order to avoid a partial shutdown - the suspension of the work of a number of federal departments (this happens when Congress cannot approve the budget; for example, in 2018, the shutdown occurred several times, including due to controversy over the financing of the wall on the border with Mexico, the construction of which was sought by President Donald Trump ).

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In particular, the draft US budget for $1.66 trillion includes $44.9 billion to help Ukraine and NATO allies. In total, it is planned to spend a record $858 billion on defense, and the remaining $773 billion on domestic programs.

In the United States, budget spending is divided into mandatory (mandatory) and arbitrary (discretionary): the former do not depend on the budgetary acts of Congress and are determined by applicable laws, while the latter are reviewed annually and approved by Congress for each budget year. $1.66 trillion is discretionary spending. US mandatory spending for 2023 is projected at about $5.9 trillion.

By comparison, last year the US defense budget was $770 billion and discretionary spending was $1.5 trillion.

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After the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, Western countries froze about $400 billion of Russian assets, of which at least $330 billion was frozen by the United States. The largest amount - $ 300 billion - is the assets of the Central Bank of Russia, the rest belongs to individuals and companies, the US Treasury reported.

In early October, Senators Lindsey Graham, Jim Risch (R), Sheldon Whitehouse (D), Michael Bennet (D) and Richard Blumenthal (D) proposed a bill that would allow the authorities to confiscate the assets of "Russian oligarchs" terrorism or other illegal activities”, and direct the proceeds from their sale to help Ukraine.

The Russian authorities have repeatedly criticized Western countries for sanctions and blocking the assets of Russian businessmen, calling it "robbery."