Bush to Sponsor Ukraine and Georgia

Monday George Bush presented in Congress the draft budget for 2006. In it Ukraine, followed by Georgia, top the list of CIS countries earmarked to receive US financial aid.

Bush has requested Congress to allocate next year a total of $105.5 million for Ukraine in three key programs, including economic aid, military personnel training and financing defensive supplies and services from the US.

Under the same three programs for Georgia, the requested allocation amounts to $80.2 million.

According to the State Department, the White House has requested Congress to allocate $88 million for Ukraine on economic aid, $1.0 million on military personnel training and $16.5 million on financing Ukrainian defensive imports from the US. Under the last position, the amount of financing for 2006 has risen by five times as compared to the current year.

For Georgia, financing under these three programs would be $67 million, $1.2 million and $12 million respectively.