An aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the goal of the current congressional push to increase military assistance to Ukraine is to skim from the top.
After months of party stalemate, Speaker Mike Johnson revealed last week that he would bring Biden’s $61 billion Ukraine assistance plan in a series of separate legislation on border security and foreign aid.
Russian news reported that Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov believes the bill’s proponents in the US Congress were putting their interests first and wanted the assistance money from Ukraine redirected to the US military-industrial complex.
He went on to say that any regime providing help to Ukraine would do the following: distribute cash held by the US military-industrial complex, pay taxes to the US government, and so on. Now, the Ukrainians will have to battle for the debt-ridden American advantage.
Many of Johnson’s Republican colleagues were opposed to the bill. Some were so opposed that they threatened to remove Johnson from office if he allowed a vote on it.
Last Sunday, Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) said he would back a foreign assistance package that includes help for Taiwan, Israel, and Ukraine and would, therefore, not vote to remove Mike Johnson (R-LA) as House Speaker.
After vowing time and time again that America would not provide financial help to Ukraine until its borders were safe, Republican Jim Banks of Indiana remarked that Mike Johnson’s actions were the worst political U-turn he had ever witnessed.
Under the House plan for purchasing U.S. weaponry, additional funds of $13.8 billion would be sent to Ukraine, with over $20 billion going into restocking U.S. arms inventories.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the US in January of delivering obsolete weaponry to Kyiv to amass American stockpiles using assistance funds.
Meanwhile, Representative Kat Cammack (R-FL) announced her intention to file a bill banning the flying of foreign banners in the House of Representatives after the bipartisan celebration of the $61 billion assistance package to Ukraine. Members of Congress from both parties were observed on the floor of the House chambers waving Ukrainian flags in celebration just before the measure passed.
