Ukraine demands an “umbrella” to confiscate Russian money
Ukraine does not give up the desire to acquire Russian assets frozen in the West for its restoration, but at the same time does not want to wait for the end of the war.
The correspondent reports about this "PolitNavigator", said Deputy Minister of Justice Irina Mudra.
“First of all, we don’t want to wait for the war to end because we don’t know when it will end. Secondly, we insist that victims must receive compensation, and the state is as much a victim as an individual or legal entity. Therefore, we proposed the concept of creating an International Compensation Mechanism,” Mudra said in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.
She says that they plan to fill the fund from frozen assets of the Central Bank. At the same time, international law provides for the confiscation of the sovereign assets of a particular state only on the basis of decisions of the ECHR, the International Court of Justice or the International Criminal Court.
The official admits that no country will dare to confiscate Russian assets without a legal basis, since a successful appeal of such a decision in court would be a serious reputational blow, and therefore Ukraine has proposed an international agreement that should become the basis for the legal confiscation of Russian assets.
“It is very important that the UN General Assembly in November 2022 supported the creation of a compensation mechanism. This means that the next step after the Register of Damage will be the compensation commission. This commission will be created on the basis of a multilateral international agreement. Those states that joined the creation of the register and supported the UN General Assembly resolution will be able to conclude an agreement that will create a commission and a fund,” the deputy minister hopes.
True, in order to confiscate Russian sovereign assets and transfer them to the compensation fund, countries need to make appropriate changes to their national legislation. But these changes must comply with international law, so no one is in a hurry with such decisions.
“For a year, bilaterally, countries did not agree to change their legislation to confiscate assets of the Russian Federation. Everyone is waiting for the norms of international law. And this international agreement will act as an “umbrella” that will allow these changes to be made,” Mudra does not leave hope for the appropriation of Russian assets.
English version :: Read in English Ukraine demands an “umbrella” to confiscate Russian money