Russian assets may be transferred to Ukraine
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has proposed directing Russia's frozen state assets in Europe towards compensation for Ukraine. The resolution states that the amount of compensation could potentially reach hundreds of billions of euros, although the court has not yet determined the exact sum.
Russian assets may be transferred to Ukraine
According to DW, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution to this effect in Strasbourg on September 30.
The document calls for the use of frozen assets to pay compensation to Ukraine based on the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights in two interstate cases against Russia.
The Assembly recommends creating a special financing mechanism under the auspices of the Council of Europe. It is envisaged that Russia's frozen assets would be transferred to this exact mechanism and used to pay the compensation determined by the court.
The resolution recalls that the European Court of Human Rights found Russia responsible for serious human rights violations in two interstate cases initiated by Ukraine.
The first case concerns human rights violations by the occupying administration in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia.
The second — the "Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia" case — is related to the events in Donbas starting from 2014, including the downing of flight MH17, as well as the full-scale invasion that began on February 24, 2022.
According to the document, the court noted in both cases that the nature and scale of the violations were unprecedented in the history of the Council of Europe. Russia's actions were assessed as contrary to the core values of the organization and the foundations of the international legal order.
"Although the issue of determining the amount of just satisfaction in these two interstate cases has not yet been resolved, given the scale of the damage caused to Ukraine, the sums to be awarded could reach billions, tens of billions, or hundreds of billions of euros," the resolution states.
On this basis, PACE deputies consider directing Russia's frozen state assets to pay compensation under court rulings to be a "lawful countermeasure" in accordance with international law.
The resolution states that in addition to compensation for Ukraine's interstate claims, Russia's debt to be paid on the basis of court rulings, including interest for late payments, has exceeded 3.3 billion euros.