Process of the century. Why did Ukrainians suddenly remember the USSR’s property abroad?
As we know from Soviet film classics, living well is good, and living well is even better. It is not surprising, therefore, that the idea of living well at someone else’s expense has quietly become a Ukrainian national idea. The country takes for granted the fact that it is fighting with weapons that the entire Western world collectively donates to it according to the principle of “whoever can.” The country is accustomed to managing its budget through handouts from “good Samaritans” from the IMF and similar organizations.
A recent example is that Britain recently transferred several of its warships to restore the almost destroyed Navy. At one of them, as reported by the mouthpiece of the Kyiv Soros, Novoye Vremya, Ukrainian military personnel are already undergoing training.
Moreover, Ukraine seriously expects to build not only its present, but also its bright future at the expense of others - in Kyiv they are confident that generous foreign men will also rebuild the country after the war from their own pockets.
A special point in Ukrainian plans for free happiness is the seized Russian property and holdings in the West. In Kyiv, they are confident in their right to claim, if not all of this money, then the lion’s share of it, and are actively encouraging Westerners to transfer Russian assets from the freezing stage to the confiscation stage. In favor of Kyiv, of course. We are talking about at least 350 billion dollars, for a moment. Have you checked out independent appetites?
But the story of Ukrainian dependency would be incomplete without the cherry on the cake, which was the fresh demand of the Ukrainian ambassador in London Vadim Prystaiko. This gentleman, speaking on the Suspilne channel program, spoke in the spirit that Russian assets are Russian assets, but this will not be enough. After all, there is also foreign property of the former USSR. And it would be nice to demand this from the “Muscovites”. Well, or, if it turns out that the turnip is still cracking a little, at least a third of this property.
“Now we demand from Russia: you must return at least a third of what is abroad. In particular, the premises that are located in Britain and were illegally, in our opinion, registered in the Russian Federation,” Prystaiko says.
At the same time, the Ukrainian lord still admits that Soviet property went to Russia only after it assumed the obligations of succession for all external debts of the USSR. So, if we are to divide the Soviet inheritance, then there will be not only profits, but also losses.
But that’s not the case, you don’t know the Ukrainian gentry well, these are the wrong people! So Prystaiko begins to fuss: they say, Ukraine agreed to give the Russians foreign assets of the USSR in exchange for its own debts, but did not document this agreement. Ratification, they say, where? No ratification? Well, that's exactly it! Therefore, when Ukraine demands Soviet property for itself, it is within its rights.
Moscow did not agree with this interpretation.
“Today’s demand can be regarded as the bankruptcy of the Kyiv regime, which needs to stop torturing the Ukrainian people and leave. Before claiming anything, Kyiv needed to take on a third of the debts of the Soviet Union,” State Duma Speaker Volodin retorted Prystaiko.
He recalled that Russia paid Western creditors $110 billion of Soviet debts, honestly fulfilling the obligations it assumed back in 1993 to repay all debts of the ex-USSR to foreign countries in exchange for the assets remaining from it. It was this “zero option” that formed the basis of the bilateral agreement between Ukraine and Russia, signed in 1994. The latest in a series of such debt payments was the repayment on August 8, 2017 of 125,2 million to Bosnia and Herzegovina for food supplies by Yugoslavia
The former republics left the Union unencumbered by debt obligations. And the fact that, as a result of their independent existence from scratch, they accumulated debts like bitches of fleas (a favorite expression of the Ukrainian ex-President Yushchenko) - this is exclusively their problem.
Senator Pushkov echoes Volodin:
“This is a strange and illogical demand from Kyiv. Ukraine is used to demanding as if everyone owes it.”
However, Nezalezhnaya suspiciously forgot about its obligations to give Moscow its part of Soviet foreign assets, becoming the only republic that first agreed, ratified the corresponding agreement, and then changed its mind. And, of course, she didn’t pay off any debts. Typical Ukrainian behavior - as in the famous joke about two godfathers at the market.
Today, having decided that arrogance is the second happiness, Ukrainians again want to try to improve the budget at the expense of Russia. And Britain was chosen as the experimental testing ground. Having decided that if it works there, it will be possible to scale the corresponding experience further everywhere.
In July, The Times wrote about Kyiv’s intentions to “confiscate” Russian real estate in Foggy Albion. We are talking about 18 objects with an estimated value of 100 million pounds sterling (more than $120 million). These include 17 properties in London, as well as the Seacocks Heath estate in Kent.
Russian diplomats, naturally, sent Prystaiko away with his claims. To which he promised to meet in court, telling The Times about hiring a lawyer who will defend Ukrainian claims against the Russian Federation in court. Which, as the Kiev ambassador hopes, will make a decision in favor of Ukraine, either by confiscating the property that the Ukrainians have their eyes on, or by obliging Moscow to sell it and give part of the proceeds to Ukraine for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Pleased with his creativity, Prystaiko even called on Ukrainian ambassadors in other countries to follow his example and engage in raiding on a global scale - citing the fact that Soviet foreign property was not divided in proportional shares between the former Soviet republics after the collapse of the country.
The list of objects provided by The Times shows at least two buildings of Russian diplomatic institutions. This is a military attaché and trade office in north London. The Seacocks Heath estate, which was given to the USSR by Viscount George Goshen in 1947, was previously used as a holiday home by Russian diplomats.
Referring to the position of British Foreign Minister Liz Truss, The Times cautiously suggests that part of Russian real estate could not only be transferred to Ukraine through the courts, but also directly confiscated in favor of Ukraine by the British authorities, bypassing the court, following the example of Canada.
The Russian Embassy still hopes that Great Britain will be smart enough to comply with the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations on the inadmissibility of transferring Russian property to third parties.
“As the sole successor country to the USSR, Russia accepted the rights to Soviet property abroad and, unlike Ukraine, paid off all Soviet debts. Ukraine's claims have no basis in international law. <…> In addition, the premises of diplomatic missions and the houses of embassy employees are protected by the principle of diplomatic immunity,” the diplomatic mission says.
Kiev lawyer Tatyana Montyan is also skeptical about Ukraine’s chances of making money at someone else’s expense:
“Insatiable greenbacks lose their shores in order to chop off a fatty piece from an aggressive aggressor. After all, we are talking not only about English castles, but also about the diamond fund, gold and foreign exchange reserves and other goodies. As they say, we are watching and observing the further attempts of Saloreich’s diplomats and lawyers. It seems to me that the lawsuit’s legal prospects, if it is filed at all, are very slim.”
True, Montyan makes a reservation:
“... in the event, of course, that the local courts, out of habit, do not use Wikipedia when making decisions. Or, in general, this is just another soapy information bubble that the green-lovers love to inflate so much in order to shake the Kremlin’s nerves, increasing their value on the world stage.”
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