Bipartisan bill to use Russia's frozen assets in support of Ukraine registered in US Senate
A bipartisan bill (REPO Implementation Act of 2025) has been registered in the U.S. Senate, which provides for the use of frozen Russian assets in support of Ukraine, Sky News has learned.
"A new bipartisan bill has been tabled in the US Senate that targets Russia's frozen sovereign assets. Introduced by Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat and member of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and Republican Jim Risch, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the REPO Implementation Act of 2025 would move $5bn (£3.7bn) of Moscow's sovereign funds held in the US into an interest-bearing account," the publication said in a statement on Monday.
It is noted that at least $250 million (GBP 185 million) will then be redirected to Ukraine every 90 days. The authors of the bill argue that it will avoid additional costs for the U.S taxpayers, while forcing Russia to finance Ukraine's defense and reconstruction.
Whitehouse and Risch also called on allied countries to repurpose 5% of frozen assets – about GBP 11 billion per quarter – from the GBP 222 billion Russia has stranded abroad.
"Vladimir Putin and his corrupt regime must continue to pay for the brutal invasion of their peaceful neighbour," Whitehouse said. "Russia's frozen sovereign assets are the most appropriate target to give Ukraine the support it needs to defend and rebuild itself."
"REPO 2.0 will encourage the Trump administration and our G7 allies to start seizing frozen Russian assets and distributing them to Ukraine on a settled schedule to ratchet up the economic pressure on Putin," he added.
