Washington:
As Washington and Kiev began another round of talks about the mineral deal, which will give the United States a large stake in Ukraine’s natural resources, a new demand of Trump administration- an important pipeline passing through Ukraine is used to send Russian gas to Europe.
The latest draft proposal submitted by US authorities is more “maximalist” than the original version floating in February, proposed to Washington to give oil and gas with rare metals of $ 500BN, as well as a report by oil and gas, news agency Reuters.
Sources quoted, the report stated that the new document has many “Easter eggs”, one of them is the Trump administration demanding that the US government’s International Development Finance Corporation takes control of a natural gas pipeline from Russian energy giant Gajprom in Ukraine.
Why does America want a deal?
US President Donald Trump wants to control the mineral deposits of Ukraine, which includes prized rare earth, as is “peback” in exchange for weapons given by the previous biden administration after the Russia-Ukraine war begins.
The US President has repeatedly claimed that the US has assisted Ukraine between $ 300BN and $ 350BN, and he wanted to “bring back the money” through a deal.
Ukraine’s President Volodimier Zelansky first discussed the proposed deal with Trump last September when he was named Republican for the Presidential election.
The proposal was to provide American access to Ukraine’s underdeveloped mineral sector. The Ukrainian leader envisaged a deal, in which the upcoming Trump administration was supplied to Ukraine with weapons, however, however, in exchange for future profits from joint investment, however, Washington has not made any clear promise on the issue so far.
Talks so far
American and Ukrainian officials on Friday met on the US proposal to gain access to Ukraine’s mineral money. But, according to a report by a Reuters, a success prospects were reduced to a success possibilities, given the “anti -” environment of the meeting.
The strains in Washington held talks arising out of the latest draft proposal of the Trump administration, which is more wide than the original version, the agency quoted a source.
“The atmosphere of the conversation is very opposed to,” said the source pointing to the “Maximalist” draft presented by the Trump administration last month.
Development was confirmed by the Treasury Department spokesperson, who called him “technical in nature”.
The source said that the Ukrainian government has hired law firm Hogan Lavels as an external advisor on the mineral deal.
What is America’s new proposal?
The latest draft will provide the US a privileged access to Ukraine’s mineral deposits and the exploitation of natural resources by Ukrainian state and private firms will require Kiev to keep all income in a joint investment fund.
The proposed deal, however, would not provide the US security guarantee to the UEV – Ukrainian President Volodimare Zelanski’s top priority – captured some 20 percent of his region for his fight against Russian forces.
The source said that one of the “Easter eggs” found in the document was the demand that the International Development Finance Corporation of the US government controls a natural gas pipeline that runs on the border with the European Union and Slovakia from the city of Ukrainian city of Sudza to Ukrainian city of Western Russia.
Built in the Soviet period, the pipeline was discontinued by Ukraine on 1 January, ending after a five -year contract with the Russian state power company Gazprom. The major energy route has earned both Russia and Ukraine both in transit charges, both during the first three years of the war, which includes a full -scale war.
Ukraine refused to return
Zelansky said on Wednesday that a mineral deal should be profitable for both countries and can be structured in a way that will help modernize Ukraine.
The Ukrainian leader said, “I am just defending what is Ukraine. It should be beneficial for both the United States and Ukraine. This is the right job.”
Volodimir Landa, a senior economist at the Center for Economic Strategy, a Kiev Thinktank told The Guardian that the Americans were out for “everyone can get”.
He predicted that America’s bullying “colonial-type” demands had little possibility of accepting by Kiev.