Russian dictator Vladimir Putin proposed this Thursday (22) the sending of US$1 billion in Russian assets frozen in the West due to the war in Ukraine for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip through the so-called Peace Council, led by American President Donald Trump.
The amount was suggested by Trump for any country that wants a lifetime seat on the new council. Putin has not yet confirmed whether he has accepted the invitation to join the parallel body led by Washington, which officially came into force this Thursday, during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“We are ready to send $1 billion to this new Peace Council structure, mainly to support the Palestinian people, allocating these funds for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip,” the Russian said at the start of a meeting in the Kremlin, broadcast on state television.
He added that the matter has already been discussed with White House representatives and will be discussed again in the coming hours with American representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Speaking to the press at a press conference, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “it is not yet clear how [a contribuição] will be formalized from a legal point of view; all of this needs to be discussed. (…) This requires unlocking [de ativos]which will naturally require certain actions on the part of the US.”
The West has frozen around $300 billion in Russian assets since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, most of which are in Europe and the US.
