How Prigozhin Turned on Putin
NewsweekDec 24, 2022
The Facts
US Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday approved the transfer of millions of dollars worth of assets seized from Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev to aid war-ravaged Ukraine. In a statement, he said: "While this represents the United States' first transfer of forfeited Russian funds for the rebuilding of Ukraine, it will not be the last."
The Justice Department last April charged Malofeyev with violating sanctions imposed on Russia after it invaded Ukraine, saying he was one of the primary sources of funding for pro-Russian separatists in Crimea. In February, Garland authorized Malofeyev's funds for use in Ukraine to "remediate the harms of Russia's unjust war."
The Spin
Anti-Russia narrative
Sanction evasion is a crime, which is why the US is right to prosecute Russian oligarchs helping Putin continue the illegal war. Using frozen Russian assets to counter the costs of Moscow's destruction would show Putin he cannot economically ruin Ukraine and the West.
Pro-Russia narrative
US sanctions against Russia are illegal. The transfer of funds to Ukraine is a high-profile political stunt to suppress Russia, the US de facto enemy in the economic sphere, and is aimed at forcing Ukraine to buy weapons from the US to feed America's military-industrial complex.
Establishment-critical narrative
It's hypocritical to impose sanctions on Russia for invading Ukraine, but not on the US for invading Iraq for equally unjustified reasons, or on Israel for invading and annexing Arab lands.