PACE proposes way to hand frozen Russian funds 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 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 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 as part of the war it launched. However, the amount of "just satisfaction" due to Ukraine was not determined.

Given the scale of damage caused to Ukraine by the war, the sum could amount to billions, tens 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 pay immobilised funds of Russia's central bank to Ukraine.

Although Russia was excluded from the Council of Europe 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 applicants bringing claims against Russia are able to 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 people found to be involved in large-scale human rights violations who have not yet been held accountable.

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

Background:

• Ukraine has asked the EU to find a solution for using frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine.
• Similar calls have also come from several member states. Belgium's government, however, says its concerns over Russia's frozen assets remain.

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