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America will receive all royalties until Ukraine has repaid at least $100 billion in war debts to the US, with 4 percent interest added.
President Donald Trump is holding a gun to Volodymyr Zelensky's head, demanding huge reparations payments and claiming half of Ukraine's oil, gas and hydrocarbon resources, as well as almost all of its metals and most of its infrastructure.
The latest version of his "minerals deal," obtained by The Telegraph, is unprecedented in the history of modern diplomacy and state relations.
“It’s an expropriation document. There are no guarantees, no safeguards, the US doesn’t put anything in place. The Americans can leave, the Ukrainians can’t. I’ve never seen anything like this before ,” said Alan Riley, an energy law expert at the Atlantic Council.
The text leaves little doubt that Mr. Trump's primary objective is to include Ukraine as a province of America's oil, gas, and resource industries.
It aligns with parallel talks between the US and Russia for a comprehensive energy partnership, including plans to restore West Siberian gas flows to Europe in large volumes, with US companies and Trump-linked financiers gaining a large stake in the business.
The revived gas trade will flow through the Ukrainian network, and later through the Baltics, while the sabotaged Nord Stream pipelines will be put back into circulation.
The new draft says that the United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund will control "critical minerals or other minerals, oil, natural gas (including liquefied natural gas), fuels or other hydrocarbons, and other extractable materials of Ukraine."
All critical materials listed in the U.S. Energy Act are covered, including rare earths and 50 other minerals such as lithium, titanium, cobalt, aluminum, and zinc.
The US will control infrastructure related to natural resources “including, but not limited to, roads, railways, pipelines and other transportation assets; ports, terminals and other logistics facilities; and refineries, processing facilities, natural gas liquefaction and/or regasification facilities and similar assets.
Three of the five board members in the new fund will be elected by the US. There will be "A" shares and gold shares. America will receive all royalties until Ukraine has repaid at least $100 billion in war debts to the US, with 4 percent interest added.
Ukraine only has "B" shares and will receive 50 percent of the royalties only after the arrears are paid off.
The fund is registered in Delaware, but under the jurisdiction of New York. The United States has the right of first refusal on all projects. It has the authority to examine the books and accounts of any Ukrainian ministry or agency at any time during business hours.
The US could veto sales of Ukrainian resources to other countries, which could mean banning rare earth sales to China, but could also limit sales to Europe.
"It's not compatible with EU membership, and perhaps that's part of the intention. I have to wonder whether the real intention might not be to force Zelensky to reject it ," said Prof Riley.
The US does not pay any investment capital, considering its contribution as past military aid. No security guarantees are offered.
Germany's Bild Zeitung said talks had been underway for weeks in Switzerland to reopen the Nord Stream 2 pipelines, conducted secretly by former Stasi agent Matthias Warnig and Trump envoy Richard Grenell, a man known for his Kremlin sympathies.
The terms would give American contractors operational control and a hefty revenue stream, creating money out of thin air. A cynic might call it a legal “donation” to Mr. Trump’s entourage from the Kremlin./ Adapted from “Pamphlet” by “The Telegraph”
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