Millions of pounds seized from a Russian money launderer will be split between a series of Scottish youth charities, under the latest round of Cashback for Communities funding.
The £2.5 million fund is the first portion of a £6.5 million haul recovered from Moscow-based Anatoly Kazachkov.
It will be made available in grants of up to £30,000, administered by national agency YouthLink Scotland.
Mr MacAskill unveiled the £2.5m pot on Thursday on a visit to Tranent’s Recharge scheme, which used its CashBack funding to operate a drop-in session for 13 to 18-year-olds every Friday night over the past two years. He said: "Earlier this year I was pleased to announce £6.5 million of dirty money had been seized from a Russian criminal and today we are seeing some of that money reinvested into worthy community causes.
"By supporting projects such as the Recharge project we are showing our young people that there is much more to life than offending or getting out of your heads on drink or drugs.
"CashBack for Communities delivers on our ambitions for young people but it also benefits the wider community, whether that's getting kids off street corners, getting them involved in things like volunteering or offering them the chance to give something back to their communities.
"The benefits to the young people are clear - and the benefits are felt in the wider community."
A total of £19.5 million has been invested in free activities for young people across the country since the scheme’s inception, with the new package to be split across the country’s 32 councils. Aberdeen is to receive £81,328, Edinburgh will receive £177,962 and £263,786 will be awarded in Glasgow.
Crown Office officials seized £6.5m from 63-year-old Kazachkov under the Proceeds of Crime Act following a suspicious multi-million dollar bank transfer from an account in Hungary to a Scottish bank in 2004.
Jim Sweeney, chief executive of YouthLink Scotland, said: "It will enable hundreds of groups and tens of thousands of young people across the country to benefit through more and better provision."
Alan Bell, project manager at Recharge, added: "CashBack for Communities has been a fantastic resource for us.
"It enabled us to properly staff our Friday night drop-in sessions, which have been getting increasingly popular and led users to get more involved with other activities we do during the week.
"The young people that come here are the ones who benefit and it's because of the CashBack funding that we have gone from strength to strength over the last two years."
