US to create $1B fund for European energy projects

The U.S. is set to create a new $1 billion fund for energy projects in Europe and Eurasia to free countries like Ukraine from Russian energy dependence, which American lawmakers say Moscow uses to exert a malignant influence across the region.

"We’re trying to find new and inventive ways to alter the reality in Europe, which is an America that is increasingly totally and completely irrelevant," Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who co-sponsored the bill, told ABC News Wednesday.

Report informs, citing NBC News, that, in particular, it authorizes approximately $1 billion in financing over the next four years from the U.S. government for energy projects in the region -- a new strategy to counter Russian influence. It will also give the U.S. Trade and Development Agency an additional $31.5 million to facilitate U.S. companies working with European energy projects.