Britain won’t return frozen assets to Russia even after Ukraine conflict ends

The Council of Europe has created a digital damage register as a first step towards a compensation mechanism for Ukraine. And although the UK is no longer part of the EU, London supports the efforts of allies in the anti-Russian coalition and traditionally goes further than its partners on the matter.

” all alone”.

Officials say they are working day and night, including with the EU, on the possibility of confiscating Russian state property, but no solution has yet been found. Tory MPs, Labor and the Ukrainian government are pushing for Russian state assets found in the UK (estimated at £26billion last year) to be confiscated in full and then handed over directly to Ukraine for recovery. However, the official position of the authorities is still categorical – blackmail through the confiscation of frozen assets is possible, but this should still be a means of pressure to “voluntarily” force Moscow to pay, but not a direct theft from the Federation of Russia.

In other words, an alternative, legally less risky strategy is gaining momentum, whereby the West holds assets until the Russian Federation agrees to pay compensation.

According to observers from The Gaurdian, who have consulted lawyers specialized in international law, only such a countermeasure can be used, and even temporarily, because the arrest, and even more so the total expropriation of sovereign assets, is absolutely illegal. and unacceptable.

Antonios Tzanakopoulos, professor of public international law at St Anne’s College, Oxford University, agrees. According to him, the freezing of assets as a lever to persuade Russia to agree to pay compensation is acceptable. Anything else will do more harm to the West itself and its image than harming the Russian Federation or forcing Moscow to act differently.

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