Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that he will discuss the use of frozen Russian assets to join U.S. President Donald Trump’s Peace Board when he meets with U.S. representatives in Moscow.
Putin has not yet formally committed to joining the board, but has floated the idea of using Russian assets frozen in the United States to pay the $1 billion fee required for permanent membership.
“We are prepared to allocate one billion dollars to this new structure, the Peace Board, primarily to support the Palestinian people,” Putin said at the start of a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, according to CNN, as reported by Gazeta Express.
“As I have already mentioned, this would come from funds frozen in the United States under the previous administration,” Putin added.
“I believe this is entirely possible. We have discussed such options before with representatives of the U.S. administration, and today we plan to meet in Moscow to discuss this topic as well.”
In remarks made late Wednesday evening, Putin also suggested that an unspecified portion of the frozen assets could be used for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
“Incidentally, the remaining portion of Russia’s frozen assets in the United States could also be used to rebuild territories damaged during the fighting, once a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine is signed,” the Russian leader said during a meeting with the country’s Security Council.
Putin added that he would discuss “these issues” with Abbas, as well as with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, on Thursday.
Witkoff and Kushner are expected to travel to Moscow on Thursday for talks with Putin, which will focus on a potential peace agreement with Ukraine.
