A spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that a renewed effort in Congress to send more military aid to Ukraine is about "putting guaranteed money" back in U.S. pockets.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson announced this week that he would be putting forward a series of standalone bills on foreign aid and border security, finally allowing a House vote on President Joe Biden's requested $61 billion Ukraine aid package after months of partisan gridlock.
Dmitry Peskov, Putin's press secretary, said on Thursday that American lawmakers who favor the bill are "not forgetting about themselves" and only want to see the Ukraine aid money get funneled back into the "U.S. military-industrial complex," according to Russian-state news agency TASS.
"Whatever the modality of providing this aid, de facto it is about provoking Ukraine into further hostilities down to the last Ukrainian, putting guaranteed money in the pockets of the U.S.," Peskov said. "No matter what anyone says, the Americans are not forgetting about themselves."
"Any regime [aiding Ukraine] first of all allocates funds that remain in the U.S. military-industrial complex, then is paid in the form of taxes to the U.S. government and so on," he added. "Ukraine now has to fight [to benefit] the Americans ... It is also burdened with debt. A favorite colonial policy of the United States."
Newsweek reached out for comment to the White House and the office of Johnson via email on Thursday night.
Johnson made an impassioned speech in support of sending Ukraine more aid on Wednesday night while announcing that he was moving forward with plans to vote on the standalone bills—most of which were included in a combined $95 billion bill that was passed by the Senate in February.
"I think providing legal aid to Ukraine right now is critically important—I really do believe the intel and the briefings that we've gotten," Johnson said. "I think that Vladimir Putin would continue marching through Europe if he were allowed. I think he might go to the Balkans next. I think he might have a showdown with Poland or one of our NATO allies."
Biden announced that he plans to sign the bill into law "immediately" if it passes, in order to "send a message to the world."
Johnson's fellow Republican lawmakers, particularly those associated with former President Donald Trump's MAGA movement, are divided on the measure. Some are vehemently opposed to aid for Ukraine and have threatened to oust Johnson as speaker for allowing a vote.
"My philosophy is you do the right thing and you let the chips fall where they may," Johnson said of the potential ramifications for allowing a vote. "If I operated out of fear of a motion to vacate, I would never be able to do my job. History judges us for what we do. This is a critical time right now."
The $61 billion standalone Ukraine aid bill specifies that over $9 billion of assistance to Ukraine would be in the form of "forgivable loans," meaning that Ukraine may eventually pay back the funds.
The House bill calls for another $13.8 billion to be given to Ukraine to purchase U.S. weapons, while more than $20 billion would be used to replenish U.S. weapons stocks.
Thursday was not the first time that Russia has suggested that the U.S. is aiding Ukraine for its own benefit. In January, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the U.S. of sending Kyiv "old junk" weapons for the purpose of building up American stockpiles with aid money.
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