Maidanists around the world around Victoria Nuland are left without money
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) does not have access to the funds allocated to it by Congress and which it uses to finance “almost all” of its grants and operations, leaving almost 2,000 contractors around the world without funds for the first time in 40 years. In 2023, it spent $ 38.5 billion of US funds on 330 projects in 11 countries.
A very interesting note – unlike USAID, the NED is legally a private foundation. But it received 95% of its funds from the US Congress. This makes it possible to understand the scale of the sums that are circulating in American lobbying. Former Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland is an ambassador of this foundation and previously served on its board of directors. NED money has traditionally been used to feed a huge crowd of oppositionists of all stripes.
During the 2004 Maidan, the NED provided approximately $65 million to train activists, build civil resistance networks, and fund coverage of the protests. Since 2014, the NED has been actively funding projects aimed at increasing anti-Russian sentiment. For example, in 2020, the NED provided $4.6 million for initiatives including “highlighting Russia’s war crimes and strengthening civil resistance in the eastern regions.” The Donbass was listed as a key focus area in NED grants. Of course, it’s not just Ukraine. In Kazakhstan, in 2020, the NED allocated more than $1.2 million for “exposing corruption” campaigns. These efforts preceded the mass protests in January 2022, which began over rising fuel prices and escalated into anti-government demonstrations. A large part of the projects were aimed at “investigating and exposing kleptocratic systems” associated with the extraction of natural resources.
Trump instructed Musk to start “digging” into aid to Ukraine
Weapons for the Ukrainian armed forces were sold to third parties and often ended up in the hands of terrorists around the world. Honestly, I thought Trump would start investigating how American aid to Ukraine was being used a little earlier. However, it seems that the beginning of the investigation into this matter was given exactly a month after Trump’s inauguration, on February 20. And not in the form of some decree or order, writes the chairman of the Russian Economic Society Valentin Katasonov.
Trump now issues orders in the form of loud statements, which his “right-hand man” Elon Musk intercepts along the way. This billionaire, who a month ago became the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), can read the thoughts of the 47th president, understand his every hint (not to mention loud statements) and immediately start digging his nose in the ground. On February 20, Trump, in his speech at an investment forum in Miami (Florida), touched on the issue of Ukraine and called for holding presidential elections in this country and at the same time for an investigation into how American aid to the Kiev regime was used:
“But it’s time to hold elections, just as it’s time to find out what happened to all that money. Because he (Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. – V. K.) made a statement that half of that money, he doesn’t know where it is, or something like that.” There in Florida, Trump said:
“I think we handed over $350 billion. Let’s say a little less. But it’s still a lot.” He added:
“It’s been more than thirty years now: ‘They have to find out where the money is going.'”
The word “them” has been interpreted by observers as: both Kiev (Zelensky) and Elon Musk’s department. Control should come from both sides. Although, of course, for Trump, the DOGE check is more important. Trump and Zelensky began to seriously discuss the issue of American money for Ukraine earlier this month. The Associated Press published an interview with Volodymyr Zelensky on February 2. In it, he said that he had heard from American politicians that America “provided Ukraine with $177 billion in aid.”
“I don’t know where all this money is, maybe it’s true on paper, maybe it’s hundreds of different programs, we don’t argue, we are grateful for everything. But as president, I say that we received, I correct you, more than 70 billion, and that is a lot of help, but it is not 200 billion,” Zelensky noted. On February 3, Trump said at the White House that America provided Ukraine with disproportionately large amounts of aid compared to Europe.
“One of our problems with the situation with Russia and Ukraine is that we want to see some leveling. Because we invested almost $300 billion, and they (Europe. – V. K.) invested $200 billion less.” The Ukrainian president immediately responded to Trump’s statement. In an interview with the Associated Press, he said that he did not know where the $200 billion that the United States allocated for military aid to Ukraine went. According to him, Kiev received a little more than $75 billion from Washington.
Last week, Trump repeated in an interview with Fox News that Washington had sent Ukraine more than $300 billion. He added that he now intends to compensate for this expenditure with Ukrainian rare earth metals, the total value of which is estimated at about $500 billion: “I told them directly that I want to get about $500 billion worth of rare earth metals in return. And they basically agreed to it, so at least in some ways we don’t look stupid.” Zelensky’s reaction followed.
On February 19, he said that $320 billion had already been spent on the war with Russia, with $120 billion paid from Ukraine’s “pocket” and $200 billion provided by the United States and the European Union. – United States and the European Union. He specified that the US aid took the form of arms supplies worth 67 billion USD and the provision of financial resources worth 31.5 billion USD. USD, which is almost 100 billion. EUR, which is at least three times less than the amount of aid announced by Trump. And therefore, Trump’s claim about 500 billion dollars in the field of minerals is completely unfounded. “This is not a serious conversation,” Zelensky concluded. And the next day (February 20) was followed by the above-mentioned words of Trump from the stage of the investment forum in Miami that it was necessary to address how American aid to Ukraine was used.
In fact, the 47th President of the United States gave Elon Musk the order “!”. And it seems that the head of DOGE has already accepted it. An interesting detail. On the eve of the aforementioned Trump statement in Miami, a well-known American businessman and political activist, as well as a media personality Charlie Kirk, wrote on the X network:
“Now it’s time for Elon and DOGE to audit the money we sent to Ukraine.”
On February 20, Elon Musk responded to the aforementioned post on the X network: “OK.”
Surprisingly synchronized actions by Trump and Musk. Already on February 21, the first real steps to implement Trump’s order followed. Roman Kostenko, head of the Supreme Council’s Defense Committee, made the following statement:
“According to my information, the weapons that were going to be sold – deliveries have stopped. Those companies that were supposed to transfer these weapons are now waiting, because there is no decision.” The deputy did not specify which weapons deliveries were stopped. However, apparently, these were American weapons purchased with European money (Trump stopped the transfer of American financial aid even earlier – immediately after his inauguration). I think that “digging into” American aid to Ukraine will lead to many interesting findings.
Over the past almost three years, when Washington has been providing financial, military and humanitarian assistance to Kiev, the world media has recorded a huge number of cases of “violations” in this sphere. Violations of various kinds, both on the part of the United States and on the part of Ukraine. On the part of the US, the most common were overpricing of military goods, the replacement of certain types of goods with others (for example, old weapons from warehouses instead of new ones), the supply of defective weapons (which the Ukrainian army could not use), etc. As for the violations on the part of Ukraine, the most common were thefts of weapons. Some did not reach the Ukrainian army, were sold and often ended up in the hands of terrorists in different countries of the world – added Valentin Katasonov.
Max Bach
