The U.S. will sell off yachts and other property seized from sanctioned Russian oligarchs to help pay for military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, President Joe Biden said Thursday.
“We’re going to seize their yachts, their luxury homes and other ill-begotten gains,” Biden said at the White House.
On Wednesday, the U.S. House passed the Asset Seizure for Ukraine Reconstruction Act. The legislation recommends the president seize and sell property valued over $2 million from sanctioned Russian oligarchs and companies and use the funds to benefit Ukraine. The bill calls for funds to go to aid and technology to Ukraine, as well as for post-conflict reconstruction.
“Under these extraordinary circumstances, the international community should be prepared to use Russia’s frozen assets to rebuild the country Russia is destroying,” Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.Y., the bill’s sponsor, said in a statement.
The bipartisan bill passed overwhelmingly on a 417-8 vote. The handful of “no” votes came from lawmakers in both parties, including Reps. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.
A corresponding bill has been introduced in the Senate by two Democrats and two Republicans, including Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., who called Russia a “nation-state that really is a mafia-state,” in a statement.
Biden said under new expedited procedures, “funds can be used directly to remedy the harm Russia caused and help build Ukraine.”
The U.S. seized its first yacht earlier this month, the 225-foot yacht Tango, owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg. According to the Justice Department, the yacht is believed to be worth at least $90 million.
A single yacht is just a drop in the bucket compared to what Ukraine needs, though, according to a request for supplemental funds Biden announced Thursday. Biden asked Congress for an additional $20.4 billion in military aid to Ukraine, $8.5 billion in economic aid and $3 billion in humanitarian aid.
“This cost of this fight, it’s not cheap,” Biden said. “But caving to aggression is going to be more costly if we allow it to happen.”