US attorney general approves transfer of seized assets from Russian oligarch to Ukraine

For the first time, US Attorney General Merrick Garland has transferred seized assets from a sanctions-hit Russian oligarch to Ukraine for future rebuilding efforts in the war-torn country. Financial Times reports the transfer occurred earlier this year. Garland said more transfers of this kind are coming. “While this represents the United States’ first transfer of forfeited Russian funds for the rebuilding of Ukraine, it will not be the last.” Last year, Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev, an investor and founder of a pro-Russia media empire, was charged with breaching sanctions imposed in response to Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. At the time, Garland said millions of dollars had been seized “from an account at a US financial institution traceable to Malofeyev’s sanctions violations.” The funds were transferred in February after Garland spoke with Ukraine’s prosecutor-general, Andriy Kostin.