May 11, 2022
On May 9, the U.S. President Joseph Biden signed a lend-lease bill designed to simplify and accelerate the supply of various types of weapons to ultra-nationalist regime Ukraine. Thus, the American legislators, who had previously approved the bill in two chambers of Congress, essentially revived a similar law adopted in the United States during World War II, which allowed weapons and military equipment to be lended or leased to its allies. Its full title is: “To provide enhanced authority for the President to enter into agreements with the Government of Ukraine to lend or lease defense articles to that Government to protect civilian populations in Ukraine from Russian military invasion, and for other purposes.” It may be cited as the “Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022”.
The current bill was introduced on January 19 this year by Republican Senator John Cornyn, that is, more than a month before the beginning of Russia's special military operation undertaken to protect Donbass, as well as the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine, which began the third large-scale aggression against its citizens from February 14th, 2022. That is ten days before Russian troops responded.
The "Biden Bill" temporarily cancels some requirements related to the president's authority to lease or lease defense assets if they are intended for the government of Ukraine or the governments of other Eastern European countries "affected by Russia's invasion" of Ukraine.
As you can see, the new law simplifies and accelerates the supply of American weapons to Ukraine for a long time.
The U.S. President should establish accelerated procedures to ensure the timely transfer of defense assets provided to Ukraine for lease or leasing in accordance with the new law.
The document stipulates that in the FY 2022-2023, that is, until October 1, 2024, an agreement on lending or leasing of defense assets signed in accordance with this bill is not subject to certain provisions that usually apply to lend-lease agreements, including a provision that usually indicates that the provision of defense funds lended or leased to other states may not exceed five years in duration. In particular, the bill cancelled the obligations provided for by the American Foreign Aid Laws of 1961 and the Arms Export Control Act of 1976.
The President may authorize the United States Government to lend or lease defense articles to the Government of Ukraine or to governments of Eastern European countries impacted by the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine to help bolster those countries' defense capabilities and protect their civilian populations “from potential invasion or ongoing aggression by the armed forces of the Government of the Russian Federation”.
Any loan or lease of defense articles to the Government of Ukraine under the first paragraph shall be subject to all applicable laws concerning the return of and reimbursement and repayment for defense articles loan or leased to foreign governments.
The document does not specify anywhere the type of weapons transferred with the two named forms of their use by the Ukrainian side. Therefore, the militaristic Ukrainian regime can be supplied with any types of weapons and military equipment, which are designated in the text by the term in general as "defense articles".
The 2022 bill gives the U.S. head of state expanded powers to conclude agreements with the Government of Ukraine on lending or leasing defense assets to the Ukrainian government or the governments of Eastern European countries "affected by the invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine" to help strengthen the defense capabilities of these countries and protect their civilian populations "from potential invasion or ongoing aggression from the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation".
It is specifically stipulated that any lending or leasing of defense assets to the Government of Ukraine is subject to all applicable laws concerning the return, reimbursement and repayment of the cost of defense articles lended or leased to foreign governments.
This means that Ukrainian taxpayers will have to pay for many years the inflated cost of various types of weapons and military equipment transferred to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In this regard, it may be recalled that the Russian Federation fully repaid its debt under the USSR-USA lend-lease agreement only in August 2006.
According to the new law, no later than 60 days after the date of its entry into force, the U.S. President shall establish expedited procedures for the delivery of any defense article loaned or leased to the Government of Ukraine under an agreement entered into under earlier subsection to ensure timely delivery of the article to that Government.
Thus, at the legislative level, the United States actually declared total combined war on Russia, becoming a large and diverse aggressor.
This war is being waged in all directions: military, political, trade and economic, and information and propaganda. If before Washington practiced only providing moral and small military and political support to the ultra-nationalist Ukrainian regime and was an accomplice of its criminal military activities against the citizens of Donbass, now it has become a direct aggressor against both the people of the DPR and the LPR, and against Russia as a whole.
Less than two days after the signing of the lend-lease law, the House of Representatives of Congress approved the allocation of almost $ 40 billion to Ukraine for military, economic and humanitarian "assistance" to the unpredictable Kiev regime, which has created a dangerous hotbed of tension in Europe. In particular, out of this amount, $6 billion should go to the provision of weapons and security assistance, $8.7 billion – for economic assistance and financing of the work of state services of Ukraine, $5 billion – for food aid to it and other countries of the world, $900 million. dollars are intended to support Ukrainian refugees. In addition, 3.9 billion will be allocated to strengthen American troops in Europe, which, excluding the NATO Rapid Reaction Forces (40 thousand troops), there are about 100 thousand soldiers and officers.
The new amount of 40 billion must be approved by the Senate, and then by Joseph Biden. It is ten billion more than the previous American tranche allocated to Kiev for the same purposes recently, and ten times exceeded the previous financial package provided to it, which was collected in April this year for similar financing. He personally sent a corresponding request to Congress for this additional funding. He urged lawmakers to immediately approve the draft law so that he could sign it in the near future, warning that otherwise the United States would soon be forced to suspend military and other assistance to Kiev, since the previous resources allocated by Congress are almost exhausted.
The White House welcomed the decision of the House of Representatives, while not forgetting to disclose the types and types of weapons and military equipment that are supposed to be transferred to the Ukrainian militarists. "The additional resources included in this bill will allow us to send more weapons, such as artillery and armored vehicles, as well as ammunition to Ukraine. They will also help us replenish our arsenals and support US troops on the territory of [other countries] of NATO," the press secretary of the American president, Jen Psaki, said in a statement.
Declaring its readiness to contribute to the cessation of hostilities in Ukraine and to achieve appropriate agreements by diplomatic means, Washington is actually acting the opposite: it is delaying Kiev's aggression against Donbass.
As in the past, Russia's adequate measures in response to the lend-lease act and the new financing of Kiev's war against Donbass will not take long to wait.
Written by Vladimir P. Kozin
