PACE unanimously adopted a resolution on the confiscation of Russian assets

PACE unanimously adopted a resolution on the confiscation of Russian assets

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) called for the frozen assets of the Russian Central Bank to be transferred to the reconstruction of Ukraine. At the same time, the Assembly calls for the confiscation to be extended to include the assets of Russian oligarchs who collaborate with the Kremlin seized in the European Union (EU).

PACE adopted a corresponding resolution at its meeting on April 16. The decision was made unanimously, according to the PACE page on X (ex-Twitter). “The Parliamentary Assembly unanimously adopts a resolution calling for the transfer of frozen Russian state assets to a new fund for the reconstruction of Ukraine,” the statement said.

As People’s Deputy Oleksiy Honcharenko (Eurosolidarity) explained , the document adopted by PACE contains several calls. In particular:

• create an international compensation mechanism under the auspices of the Council of Europe;
• actively cooperate with different countries for the rapid transfer of Russian assets to the mechanism for compensation of losses;

• create an international trust fund to which funds from all Russian state assets in the EU will be transferred;
• convene an impartial and effective international claims commission.

It is also planned to develop a mechanism for holding accountable everyone who cooperates with the Kremlin. Responsibility, according to this proposal, should come in the form of confiscation of property that will be used to restore Ukraine.

“In accordance with international law, countries have the authority to take countermeasures against a state that has seriously violated international law. The time has come for member states of the Council of Europe to move from sanctions to countermeasures,” the PACE Committee previously said, adding that the legitimacy of such countermeasures remains "irrefutable".