PACE found a new legal way to transfer frozen RF assets to Ukraine

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe proposed a way to transfer frozen RF funds to Ukraine – based on decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, according to Європейська правда.

The PACE Legal Affairs Committee believes that RF frozen assets can potentially be transferred to Ukraine based on ECtHR decisions against Russia.

The Committee approved a draft resolution and a recommendation based on the report of the representative of the United Kingdom, Tony Vaughan, and noted that redirecting Russian assets to pay compensation to Ukraine can be a lawful countermeasure and would comply with international law.

It is noted that in two inter-state applications filed by Ukraine, the ECtHR found Russia guilty of serious human rights violations in the context of the war it waged. The amount of "just compensation" to Ukraine has not been determined.

Given the scale of damage caused to Ukraine by the war, it may involve billions, tens or even hundreds of billions of euros, the committee notes.

The parliamentarians call for the creation of a financial mechanism under the auspices of the Council of Europe to pay the frozen funds of the Russian central bank to Ukraine.

Although Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe and ceased to be a party to the European Convention on Human Rights six months later, RF is still bound by ECtHR decisions regarding violations committed earlier, the deputies remind.

"This obligation under international law does not lose force over time and cannot be revoked by RF domestic legislation", they note.

The Committee also called on national authorities to enable other claimants against Russia to initiate legal procedures to obtain their due compensation if Russia avoids paying it.

In addition, the committee called for the creation of a public list of persons found to be involved in large-scale human rights violations and not yet held accountable.

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

Recall, Ukraine is asking the EU to find a solution regarding the use of frozen RF assets to support Ukraine.

Such calls were also made by several member states. At the same time, the Belgian government says that its concerns about such use of frozen Russian assets remain valid.