US Congress will provide $350 million for military assistance to Ukraine
The U.S. Congress intends to allocate $350 million in the next fiscal year for military assistance to Ukraine. This amount has already been incorporated into the draft defense budget, as reported to TASS on Tuesday by a representative of the Armed Services Committee.
"$350 million has been allocated for Ukraine. These funds could be used to provide military assistance," he said. At the same time, the representative of the committee stated that the decision on how to use these funds will be made by the U.S. President; no additional conditions for the use of these funds are provided.
In addition, the Committee specified that the text of the budget bill includes an article on the allocation of $3.4 billion to strengthen NATO in Europe, which was previously requested by the White House. Currently, the committees of both houses of Congress finalized the defense budget for the 2017 fiscal year, it is scheduled to be voted on at the end of this week. Overall it amounts to $618.7 billion.
Funds for the supply of arms to Ukraine are included in the Pentagon's budget for the current year as well, however this provision does not require the U.S. President to use these funds. The White House was selective about this provision before, limiting it to the shipping of, for example, armored vehicles, radars and radio stations.
At the same time, the U.S. Senate is considering a separate bill aimed at strengthening the sanctions against Russia. The text of the bill describes the United States’ policy on the Ukrainian crisis, clearly stating that Washington uses tools such as "sanctions, diplomacy, and aid, including lethal defensive weapons systems." However, this provision is not specified in any way, and is only declarative in nature.