US gave Europe secret plan to return Russia to global economy, - WSJ
Over the past few weeks, the White House has shared a bunch of papers with its European buddies that lay out the US's thoughts on rebuilding Ukraine and bringing Russia back into the global economy.
This is reported by The Wall Street Journal, according to Censor.NET.
Details
It is noted that the proposals have sparked controversy between the US and Europe, and the outcome could radically change the economic map of the continent.
The US plan was outlined in appendices to the current peace proposals, which are not public. The documents detail plans by US financial firms and other companies to use approximately $200 billion in frozen Russian assets for projects in Ukraine.
Another appendix offers a general vision of America for the recovery of the Russian economy, provided that American companies invest in strategic sectors, from the extraction of rare earth minerals to oil drilling in the Arctic.
It also mentions facilitating the restoration of Russian energy supplies to Europe and the rest of the world, which runs counter to Europe's policy of abandoning Russian gas.
Some European officials who have seen the documents said they were unsure whether some of the US proposals should be taken seriously. One official compared them to President Trump's vision of building a Riviera-style development in Gaza.
Another, referring to the proposed energy agreements between the US and Russia, said that this was an economic version of the 1945 conference at which the victors of World War II divided Europe," notes the WSJ.
European officials fear that the US approach will give Russia the respite it needs to rebuild its economy and strengthen its military power.
A new assessment by a Western intelligence agency notes that Russia has technically been in recession for six months and that problems with running a war economy while simultaneously attempting to control prices pose a systemic risk to its banking sector.
The US peace plan: what is known
According to publicly available information, the peace plan includes, among other things:
-
withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from parts of the Donbas region, even those currently controlled by Ukraine;
-
restrictions or reductions in Ukraine's armed forces – the first version of the plan proposed reducing the size of the army;
-
renunciation of key categories of weapons and reduction of military support from the US;
-
equating the Russian language with the status of an official state language in Ukraine and granting special status to religion/the church (mentioning the legalization of structures associated with the Russian church);
-
providing Ukraine with security guarantees—similar to the provisions enjoyed by countries protected from attack, if an agreement is concluded.
