European countries debate using frozen assets of Russian state, Russian citizens

EU ambassadors have approved the creation of a special working group “on the use of frozen and immobilized Russian assets to support Ukraine’s reconstruction,” the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU announced on Twitter.

The group will examine the legal, financial, economic, and political possibilities for directing Russian assets to Ukraine.

At the same time, the Swiss justice ministry found no legal grounds for confiscating the frozen assets of Russian citizens to use in the reconstruction of Ukraine. A working group within the ministry found that confiscation of private assets of legal origin violates Swiss law and the country’s international responsibilities.

The Swiss finding applies only to the assets of private citizens who came under Western sanctions, and not to the assets of the Russian state. The ministry says that Russia violated international law by attacking Ukraine, and is therefore obliged to pay reparations.

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Western countries froze around half of Russia’s Central Bank’s foreign exchange reserves — about 300 billion USD. As of early January 2023, European countries had frozen Russian assets worth 20.3 billion Euros (around 21.7 billion USD). Using these frozen funds, with the plan to later return the money to Russia, is a controversial proposal, and discussions around implementing it are just beginning.

In September 2022, the World Bank estimated that at least 350 billion USD will be needed to rebuild Ukraine following the Russian invasion.