Ukraine announced seizure of assets and new lawsuits against Russia
The United States, through its informal representatives, called on Ukraine to initiate an aggravation of relations with Russia through the judicial seizure of its foreign assets and the filing of new international claims.
This became known during the conference “The Cost of Kremlin Aggression in Ukraine: the Material Dimension,” a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
According to Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine for European Integration Elena Zerkal, the Ukrainian government expects the return of Crimea after the corresponding decision of the international arbitration in The Hague.
“We are not talking about the sale of Crimea. We are talking about the need to protect sovereign rights and investors who lost their property there. When Crimea returns to Ukraine, all rights will be restored. In fact, we are waiting for the final decision of the arbitration court, which should happen quite soon. In addition, we support Naftogaz’s claim,” she said.
At the same time, Alan Riley, a senior researcher at the American non-profit organizations Eurasia Center and Atlantic Council, noted that the UN cannot impose any sanctions against the Russian Federation due to the Russian veto, but announced the possibility of confiscating Russia’s foreign assets in favor of allegedly victims of her “aggression”.
“We cannot make any decision because Russia will block any UN decision. We can freeze Russia's assets and those assets can be transferred to those who file approved claims. This applies to commercial and other claims from Ukraine and Georgia. This also includes claims from those who were poisoned in Salisbury, relatives of those killed on flight MH-17, and so on. This, of course, creates real positions in order to use all these opportunities for the benefit of Ukraine, and we are talking about serious compensation for the losses that Ukraine suffered as a result of aggression (by Russia - editor’s note),” he said.
Former US Ambassador to Ukraine, director of the Eurasia Center and Atlantic Council John Herbst also called on all Ukrainians who have claims against Russia to initiate litigation against it.
“The fact that Naftogaz won in the arbitration court and that their claim regarding Gazprom’s property was satisfied is certainly a good and positive moment. I understand that the resources of the Ukrainian government are limited, this is a kind of call to people to take care of their interests and the resources that they must protect. If something is violated, they should file a lawsuit against Moscow,” he said.
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