"It smells like hypocrisy": Kuleba responds to radical opponents of Russia's asset confiscation and calls for moving forward
Kyiv • UNN
Ukraine's foreign minister calls for the use of frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine, saying that confiscation would be fair and legal under international law.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called for the use of frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine rebuild and defend itself. The foreign minister wrote about this in his article for Politico, pointing out that the confiscation of frozen Russian assets "would be not only fair, but also legal," and that sometimes the position of radical opponents of confiscation in the West "smells of hypocrisy," UNN reports.
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Kuleba reminded that more than $300 billion of the Russian central bank's assets have been frozen in various Western jurisdictions. "There is also other 'immobilized' Russian money from Russian oligarchs that has been sanctioned. And President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy rightly insists on confiscating these assets to help rebuild and defend Ukraine. Such a step would be fair," the Foreign Minister said.
And yet, some in the West have thrown up obstacles to this, engaging in radical formalism to argue that confiscation would violate rule of law. But this smacks of hypocrisy
"Some Western bankers and institutions have been helping Russian oligarchs launder and place their dirty money for decades, and I don't recall any of them clinging to the rule of law when it comes to this ill-gotten money," he said.
The minister also noted that "law enforcement and justice agencies should more thoroughly check the bank accounts of President Vladimir Putin's confidants outside the Russian Federation.
"Needless to say, Russia is not just waging a war against Ukraine, it is trying to undermine the rule-based order of the West, including the rule of law. And raising subtle legal objections to stop the confiscation of assets of an enemy who wants to destroy this order is contrary to the survival instinct," the Foreign Minister said.
Confiscation would not only be fair, it would be legitimate — this has already been established by numerous legal scholars and jurists. According to international law, an aggressor state has an obligation to make reparations for acts of armed aggression. The U.N. Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts allow for such countermeasures
Still, he said, "some skeptics wrongly argue that confiscation would risk destabilizing the Western financial system and international finance, undermining reserve currencies by throwing the safety of foreign investments in doubt." "Interestingly, this argument is also being promulgated by the Kremlin at every opportunity. Only recently, Russia’s Central Bank governor argued the confiscation of Russian assets by Western governments would send a negative signal," he said.
"However, reputable experts have already dismissed these concerns. And we are actively working with our partners, as the collective decision of the G7 and the EU countries also minimizes any such risks," Kuleba emphasized.
According to him, "there is another point that should also be emphasized: by confiscating Russian assets, other countries may think twice before committing similar acts of aggression.
"We realize that the integrated use of taxes, profits and assets can only be ensured by a series of national and collective steps, not by one collective leap - each country has its own legal nuances. But taking all this into account, we can start full confiscation of "immobilized" assets this year," the Minister said.
In addition, he said, "the confiscation of assets of Russian oligarchs is another important dimension of all this, and the EU is already setting the trend by finalizing the necessary legislation in this regard.
"Of course, some of our allies are concerned that the decision to confiscate the assets of the Russian central bank could set a precedent for other countries to demand reparations for past wars. But these fears are unfounded. The legal mechanism of confiscation of Russian assets can be adapted to the specific case of its aggression against Ukraine, and thus the development of existing international law will not have retroactive effect," Kuleba emphasized. - "Rather, it will serve as a strong deterrent, forcing other potential aggressors to consider the financial consequences of attacking other countries.
