Today, May 30, the President of Estonia, Alar Karis, signed the bill passed by the parliament, which allows the use of frozen Russian assets to compensate for the damages that Russia inflicted on Ukraine as a result of the war.
What is known about the law on the confiscation of frozen assets of Russia in favour of Ukraine
According to the head of Estonia, according to the law, only the property of those "whose connection with the commission or facilitation of an illegal act has been established and sufficiently proven" can be confiscated and used for compensation. "So the fact that someone's assets have been frozen due to international sanctions is not a sufficient reason to expropriate property," Karis said.
He added that the adopted bill must be interpreted so that "the transfer of property concerns those who took an active part in committing military aggression or violating the norms of warfare."
Karis also admitted that the confiscation of property in connection with participation in military aggression may cause "unclarified legal issues, but the parliament should be able to make a political choice even in such an unclear situation."
Regardless of what one thinks of the decision chosen in Estonia, there is no doubt that we must find effective ways to guarantee the right of victims of aggression to receive compensation from those responsible for causing harm, he said.
What is known about frozen Russian assets
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, blocked assets of the Bank of Russia in the amount of about 260 billion euros have been found abroad, more than two-thirds of them are frozen in the EU.
The Belgian company Euroclear holds about 191 billion euros belonging to the Russian Central Bank, which in 2023 earned about €4.4 billion from them, writes the Financial Times with reference to the financial report of Euroclear.
A representative of the US Treasury stated that Ukraine will not be able to immediately receive the entire amount in case of confiscation of frozen Russian assets.
In July 2024, Ukraine may receive the first tranche of the profits of the frozen assets of the Russian Central Bank, if the leadership of the European Union manages to agree on such a step.
In March 2024, it became known that the leaders of the European Union made a "political" decision regarding the use of revenues from frozen Russian assets for Ukraine, but without an action plan. At the same time, according to the joint statement following the results of the first day of the EU summit, they agreed to "continue work" on the plan for their use. However, Hungary blocks the confiscation of Russia's frozen assets in favor of Ukraine.
On May 8, the ambassadors of the EU countries agreed on principled measures regarding the use of excess profits from frozen Russian assets for the reconstruction and arming of Ukraine.
