PACE proposes way to hand frozen Russian funds over to Ukraine

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has proposed a way to transfer frozen Russian assets to Ukraine on the basis of two rulings by the European Court of Human Rights.

Source: European Pravda, citing PACE's press service

Details: PACE's legal committee believes Russia's frozen assets could potentially be transferred to Ukraine on the basis of the ECHR rulings against Russia.

The committee has approved a draft resolution and recommendation based on a report by UK representative Tony Vaughan and said redirecting Russian assets to pay compensation to Ukraine could be a lawful countermeasure and would comply with international law.

In two inter-state cases brought by Ukraine, the ECHR found Russia responsible for serious human rights violations caused by the war it started, although the amount of "just satisfaction" due to Ukraine has not been determined.

Given the scale of the damage inflicted on Ukraine by the war, the sum could amount to billions, tens of billions or even hundreds of billions of euros, the committee said.

The parliamentarians called for the creation of a funding mechanism under the auspices of the Council of Europe to disburse immobilised Russian Central Bank assets to Ukraine.

Although Russia was excluded from the Council of Europe on 16 March 2022 and ceased to be a party to the European Convention on Human Rights six months later, ECHR rulings on violations committed before that date still apply to Russia, the parliamentarians pointed out.

Quote: "This obligation under international law does not diminish with time and cannot be set aside by Russian domestic law."

More details: The committee also called on national authorities to ensure that other claimants against Russia can launch legal procedures to obtain the compensation due to them if Russia evades payment.

In addition, the committee called for the creation of a public list of individuals found to have been involved in large-scale human rights violations who have not yet been held accountable.

The committee's proposal will be considered at a PACE session on 30 September.

Background:

• Ukraine has asked the EU to find a solution regarding the use of frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine.
• Similar calls have also come from several member states. Belgium's government, however, says it still has concerns.

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