MOSCOW, October 1. /TASS/. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has been transferring $1.5 billion in cash to Ukraine every month since 2022, former agency head Samantha Power told Russian pranksters Vovan (Vladimir Kuznetsov) and Lexus (Alexey Stolyarov).
The pranksters called the former USAID head, posing as former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko (listed as a person involved in extremist activities or terrorism by Russia’s financial watchdog Rosfinmonitoring). A recording of the conversation was published on their Telegram channel.
"In wartime, we were giving $1.5 billion every single month, just right into the Treasury of Ukraine, just in cash. I mean, that was because of the deficit [of funds]," she said in response to a question.
Power noted that now this money is transferred "when receipts are provided." "We had to build in all of these safeguards for Congress, of course," she added.
According to her, one of her final actions as head of USAID was providing the Ukrainian government with a substantial interest-free loan, using frozen Russian assets as collateral. Power emphasized that she made this happen not through the US government but through the World Bank.
Earlier, a fragment was published on the Telegram channel of Russian pranksters in which Power stated that tens of millions of dollars had been allocated to subjugate Moldova. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called such statements frightening.
Suspension of USAID activities
On February 3, the administration of US President Donald Trump effectively suspended USAID activities, which were used to implement US foreign policy and exert influence over other countries. On March 10, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, appointed interim head of USAID, announced that the government had terminated 83% of the agency's programs following a review. At the end of August, the New York Post reported that the US administration intended to cut foreign aid by another $5 billion, $3.2 billion of which was earmarked for USAID and would be returned to the US budget.