The contribution would come from the Russian assets frozen in the US
Moscow
is ready to contribute to US President Donald Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’
initiative, President Vladimir Putin told the Russian Security Council
on Wednesday. He suggested donating $1 billion to the body out of the
Russian assets frozen in the US to support the recovery of the
Palestinian enclave.
The initiative envisages an
international council to manage funding, security, and political
coordination in Gaza during a transitional period following a ceasefire
between Israel and Hamas. The body will work alongside a Palestinian
technocratic administration. Trump came up with the idea after the US
brokered the truce last year.
Russia could provide $1 billion for the organization “right now, even before we decide whether we’ll take part… in the work of the Board of Peace,” the Russian president said, citing Moscow’s “special relations with the people of Palestine.”
The sum could be taken “from the Russian assets frozen by the previous [US] administration,” he added. Moscow “has always supported and continues to support any efforts aimed at strengthening international stability,” Putin stated.
Trump
has invited dozens of nations into the board. Hungary, Morocco,
Vietnam, Kazakhstan, and Argentina have already accepted the offer.
On Tuesday, China also confirmed it had been invited to join but did not specify if it would participate.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this week that Moscow was “studying the details” of the proposal and communicating with Washington to “clarify all the nuances.”