It is essential to create legal mechanisms for confiscation with a high enough bar to cross and a set of clear criteria related to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. That would send a signal to other countries that the confiscation was not arbitrary, and they should not fear that their assets can be seized for minor transgressions if they do not plan to wage wars of aggression. On the contrary, such confiscation may serve as a deterrent against other states’ acts of aggression.
By starting the war, Russia has violated fundamental norms and principles of international law, enshrined, in particular, in: the UN Charter; Helsinki Final Act; Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States in accordance with the UN Charter; Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention in the Domestic Affairs of States and the Protection of Their Independence and Sovereignty; Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention and Interference in the Internal Affairs of States; Declaration on the Enhancement of the Effectiveness of the Principle of Refraining from the Threat or Use of Force in International Relation and many others. Moreover, Russia violated the fundamental bilateral agreements with Ukraine, including Agreement on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation; Agreement between Ukraine and the Russian Federation on the Ukrainian-Russian state border; Agreement between Ukraine and the Russian Federation on cooperation in use of the Azov Sea and Kerch Strait and Agreement between Ukraine and the Russian Federation on the status and conditions of Russian Black Sea Fleet in Ukraine.
In the case concerning Allegations of Genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Ukraine v. Russian Federation), the International Court of Justice on 16 March 2022 issued an order on the indication of provisional measures calling on Russia to suspend military operations immediately, which Russia has failed to do.
On 14 November 2022 the United Nations General Assembly at its emergency special session adopted the resolution ES-11/5 “Furtherance of remedy and reparation for aggression against Ukraine” in which it recognised that “the Russian Federation must be held to account for any violations of international law in or against Ukraine, including its aggression in violation of the Charter of the United Nations, […] and that it must bear the legal consequences of all of its internationally wrongful acts, including making reparation for the injury, including any damage, caused by such acts”. The resolution also recognised “the need for the establishment, in cooperation with Ukraine, of an international mechanism for reparation for damage, loss or injury, and arising from the internationally wrongful acts of the Russian Federation in or against Ukraine”.
In Ukraine Russia has grossly violated the Budapest Memorandum, under which Ukraine gave up its nuclear arsenal for security assurances of Russia, the UK and the US; occupied Crimea and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions in 2014; committed war crimes and violated Minsk agreements between 2014-2022; has been committing large-scale international crimes, including the occupation of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and blowing up of the Kakhovka dam; has been weaponizing food and keeps the global food security hostage. All those indicators make Russian aggression quite unique and untypical for the post-WW2 world in its scale and violence.
The world avoids to recognize the international crimes committed by Russian politicians and armed forces as genocide despite many signs in place since that would put an additional obligation on the international community to apply much more serious measures in order to stop it. Meanwhile, during his annual press conference in December 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin repeated that there will be no peace in Ukraine until Russia achieves their objectives, which “do not change”, listing “denazification, demilitarization and Ukraine’s neutral status”. That means that Russian genocidal intentions in this war haven’t changed and occupation of more territories would mean scaling up the crimes described below. Confiscation of Russian assets and transferring this money to Ukraine will prevent these plans from happening.
Disclaimer: the list of Russia’s major crimes provided in this document is not exhaustive. It was compiled to illustrate with examples the severity of Russian crimes and therefore prove that the bar Russia has crossed is already extremely high.
Find the full list of Russia’s major crimes in our BRIEF: The political argument for confiscation of russian assets.
