Trump’s Ukraine mineral deal is protection racket – Blinken
Former US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has criticised the deal proposed by the administration of President Donald Trump regarding Ukrainian minerals, calling it a "protection racket".
He said this in an interview with CNBC News, Censor.NET reports.
Blinken said that the administration of President Joe Biden received a proposal for cooperation in the field of minerals from Ukraine in the last six months of his tenure. According to the diplomat, this cooperation was part of the "Victory Plan" proposed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
"In fact, part of the Victory package that President Zelenskyy put on the table in the last six months of our administration (during the presidency of Joe Biden) included us working with them on rare earth on critical minerals. And we've been trying to drive investment in Ukraine including in that sector for many months," Blinken concluded.
Instead, the deal currently proposed by the Trump administration, in his opinion, does not provide adequate support for Ukraine.
"We want all of this stuff but you're really not going to get much for it in terms of protection against Russia from us," said the former Secretary of State, describing Trump's approach as "racketeering".
According to the fourth point of Zelenskyy's "Victory Plan", Ukraine has proposed that strategic partners conclude special agreements on joint protection, investment and use of critical resources. In particular, we are talking about uranium, titanium, lithium, graphite and other metals that could be worth trillions and play a key role in global competition.
