According to the journalists of The Wall Street Journal, official Berlin opposes the withdrawal of part of the funds from the 300 billion dollars of frozen assets of the Russian Federation in favor of Ukraine.
Why is Germany against the confiscation of frozen assets of the Russian Federation in favor of Ukraine
Germany fears that seizing, rather than freezing, these funds could set a precedent and trigger new lawsuits against them for World War II crimes, the authors of the material explain.
It is noted that after the Second World War, the demands of neighboring countries to Germany regarding reparations worsened Berlin's bilateral relations.
After World War II, Berlin paid reparations to the Allied Powers and the then Soviet Union for Germany's aggressive war.
Since 1952, Germany has also provided more than $90 billion to Holocaust survivors and their families, according to Jewish organizations.
What exactly is Berlin afraid of?
However, a number of countries have recently called for further reparations from Germany.
Poland has demanded $1.3 trillion in compensation from Berlin since 2022, and Greece has requested more than $300 billion since 2019.
Courts in Italy have also awarded restitution payments to families of occupation victims in recent years.
Some Italian courts then tried to confiscate German state assets, particularly real estate in Italy owned by German schools and cultural, historical and archaeological institutions.
Berlin argues that international law prohibits private individuals from suing states in foreign courts and that state assets are protected from confiscation. But Berlin officials say that violating this principle in the case of Russia will undermine Germany's long-standing legal position, the publication emphasizes.
German authorities also claim that Russian assets should not be touched at all in order to further use them as leverage during alleged negotiations.
Slavomir Debsky, head of the Pism think tank, said another reason for Berlin's refusal to seize Russian assets could be that it protects German companies still operating there from retaliation.
The "Leave Russia" group, which advocates the withdrawal of Western companies from the Russian market, claims that 272 German companies are still operating there.
At the same time, Bart Shevchyk, a lawyer at the American law firm Covington, said that Berlin's fears about setting a precedent for reparations cases are unfounded.
The logic of countermeasures is clearly applicable only to current and ongoing violations of international law, not to those that occurred 80 years ago, Shevchyk notes.
However, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a lawyer who once ran his own law firm, is reluctant to take any chances.
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