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| 'What are we paying for?' US decides to reconsider spending on aid to Ukraine |
| 2023-03-14 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. [RIA Novosti] American politicians who advocate cutting military support for Kyiv are increasingly referring to Ukrainian corruption. And they call for a thorough audit of spending. Will this affect the supply of the Armed Forces - in the material RIA Novosti. "I'M A SPY" One of the latest evidence that Ukraine is selling American weapons is the statements of John McIntyre. He fought for almost a year in various units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and now he has gone over to the side of Russia. McIntyre, he said, originally planned to collect data on Ukrainian war crimes and corruption in their ranks, and then transfer them to Moscow. The American said that the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine steals insurance payments - 90 percent of the families of dead foreigners will never see this money. More importantly, officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine sell many types of weapons: “A huge amount of Javelins , M4 rifles and M240 Bravo machine guns get on the black market,” he said in an interview with RT. There are many shops with military equipment in Ukraine, John added. And he continued: “I remember once I looked and thought:“ Good helmets, just like American ones! ”And then it dawned on me that all these helmets, bulletproof vests, tiles were stolen and resold on the black market to these stores.” "MCCARTHY WON'T COME TO YOU" This is a very serious signal of corruption in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but in the United States the Republicans started talking about the problem even earlier. Before the congressional elections, the "elephants" promised to reduce the cost of Kyiv and conduct an audit. They managed to win a majority in the House of Representatives, but the Senate remained under Democratic control. Because of this, difficulties arose with the appointment of the head of the House of Representatives - Kevin McCarthy was elected only on the 15th attempt. And he, it seems, undertook to fulfill the promises of the Republicans. The past week was marked by an absentee skirmish between McCarthy and Vladimir Zelensky . The American even refused to visit Kyiv. The American media wrote about attempts by Zelensky's office to contact McCarthy, but the conversation, apparently, did not take place. At least, this is evidenced by the appeal of the Ukrainian president to the congressman to visit Kyiv and personally make sure that all the money is spent properly. “I don’t have to go to Ukraine to figure out where a blank check is and where it’s not,” McCarthy replied, referring to the unlimited US spending on Zelensky. GROWING PUBLIC DEBT The Republican points to the growing US national debt. A month ago, he said that the House of Representatives would not approve new loans if the White House did not cut spending. And without the permission of Congress, the Treasury has no right to raise the limit, so Washington risks facing the threat of default. As a result, the government may take extraordinary measures - to suspend contributions to pension and social funds. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen estimates that this will last until mid-summer. If it is not possible to reach an agreement in the coming months, serious problems will arise. Of course, this is unlikely. Still, no one wants a default in Washington. AUDITORS ARE COMING. Such scrupulousness is not McCarthy's whim. He expresses the opinion of a significant - especially in the conditions of a minimal majority in the House of Representatives - part of the Republicans. One of the most prominent supporters of cutting aid to Ukraine is Marjorie Taylor Green . “There is no bipartisan support in the country for the war in Ukraine. This war does nothing for the Americans, other than making them pay for it,” she says. And he calls the Kiev regime one of the most corrupt in the world. The congresswoman also plans to submit to parliament a law on the audit of funds allocated to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine. She tried to push this document through in the last convocation, but then the initiative was blocked. The law will allow Congress to review this item of expenditure. However, the Pentagon is already doing this - about 20 audits have been launched. And after a joint trip to Kiev at the end of January, the inspectors general of the military department, the State Department and the Agency for International Development reported that they insisted on sending auditors and investigators to Ukraine. Prior to that, they operated remotely. However, Marjorie Taylor Green and some of her party colleagues believe that it is Congress that should check so that everyone can see the results of the audit. NOT ONLY ON WEAPONS, BUT ALSO ON FOOD And in Ukraine, corruption scandals follow one after another. At the end of January, it turned out that products for the Armed Forces of Ukraine are purchased at a price two to three times higher than even in retail stores in Kyiv. They fired 11 high-ranking officials, including the heads of five regions and Deputy Defense Minister Vyacheslav Shapovalov. Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov himself almost lost his post as well. In early February, the head of the Servant of the People faction in the Verkhovna Rada , David Arakhamia , announced that Reznikov would be appointed minister for strategic industries, and that he would be replaced by the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Defense Ministry, Kirill Budanov. On the same day, Reznikov organized a press conference. He declared that only the president can remove him from his post. And he added that if Zelensky had offered him to head the Ministry of Strategic Industry, he would have refused. The next day, Arakhamia clarified: Reznikov is staying. AMERICAN FATIGUE Ukraine's lobbyists in Washington tried to use the scandal as an example of Zelensky's anti-corruption activism. “We have made it very clear that we need to see how they are fighting this fight, what steps they are taking against, including good corporate governance and legal action, how they are moving forward,” said Victoria Nuland. However, the Americans, judging by the polls, are already tired of endless pandering to Kyiv. A January poll by CBS News and YouGov found that more than half of Republican supporters would like their congressional candidates to oppose support for Ukraine. This is twice as much as a year ago. And if in May 2022 60% of respondents were in favor of all-round assistance to the Kyiv regime, now there are 48% of them. And those who believe that American aid is excessive a year ago was seven percent, now it is 26. Both the mood of the population and the position of the most active Republican politicians complicate the life of the Biden administration. However, even if Congress stops approving new spending on Ukraine, the supply of Kyiv will not stop. In any case, Biden will have the opportunity to send the Armed Forces of the American weapons available in warehouses within the framework of presidential powers. |
| Posted by:badanov |