U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo arrived in Kyiv on May 29, where he will hold talks with top Ukrainian officials on forthcoming plans to strengthen sanctions against Russia.
Despite more than a dozen rounds of EU sanctions against Russia and associated measures from the U.S. and other Western partners, Russia's economy has remained resilient.
Reuters reported earlier in the day, citing an unnamed Treasury official, that Adeyemo will meet with Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhii Marchenko, aides to President Volodymyr Zelensky, and other lawmakers. He will also "preview a major speech on U.S. plans to further degrade Russia's military-industrial complex that he will give in Berlin" later this week.
Adeyemo will also discuss the ongoing efforts to redirect funds to Ukraine from the over $300 billion in Russian assets that have been frozen in the West since the beginning of the full-scale war.
Finance ministers from the Group of Seven countries (G7) announced earlier in May that they had made "progress" on a plan to send Ukraine revenue generated by the frozen assets, but they had yet to produce a concrete deal.
While the U.S. proposed seizing Russian assets outright in accordance with their recently passed REPO act, the EU has been more hesitant, fearing legal and fiscal pitfalls of confiscation.
Nate Ostiller
