BY REUTERS
The European Union on Wednesday proposed a plan to confiscate Russian assets that have been frozen to punish Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine, exploring legal options with the EU’s partners to compensate Kyiv for damage to the war-torn country.
Officials in the EU, the United States and other Western countries have debated for months how to legally seize Russian assets held abroad – both state and private – that are frozen by sanctions.
The problem is that in most EU member states, seizing frozen assets is only legally possible where there is a criminal conviction. Also, many assets of blacklisted Russian citizens are difficult to seize or even freeze because they are registered as belonging to family members or front people.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the 27-nation bloc wants to make Russia pay for the destruction it caused in neighboring Ukraine by using Russian assets frozen under sanctions.
She estimated the damage to Ukraine at 600 billion euros ($622.12 billion).
“Russia and its oligarchs have to compensate Ukraine for the damage and cover the costs for rebuilding the country,” von der Leyen argued. “We have the means to make Russia pay,” she threatened.
Von der Leyen said 300 billion euros of the Russian central bank reserves has been immobilized, and that 19 billion euros of Russian oligarchs’ money have been frozen.
She said that in the short term the EU and its partners could manage the funds and invest them. “We would then use the proceeds for Ukraine, and once the sanctions are lifted, these funds should be used so that Russia pays full compensation for the damages caused to Ukraine.”
“We will work on an international agreement with our partners to make this possible. And together, we can find legal ways to get to it,” she said.
She also said that the EU was proposing the establishment of a specialized court, backed by the United Nations, “to investigate and prosecute Russia’s crime of aggression.”
Russia says the freezing of its central bank’s reserves and the assets of its citizens are illegal. It denies that the invasion, which it calls a “special military operation” to disarm its neighbor, amounts to illegal aggression against Ukraine.
The EU said the lifting of the restrictions on Russian assets could be linked to the conclusion of a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia that would settle the question of damages reparation.
Daily Sabah