“Russia’s assets should be transferred to Ukraine”

Appeal to world leaders and governments

Russia’s war against Ukraine is genocidal.

It aims to destroy Ukraine – its statehood, its people, its economy, and its future. Moscow has been harboring this intention for a long time and has been accumulating massive resources for this purpose for many years, including the resources it has concentrated overseas.

By committing an audacious and unprovoked act of aggression against a sovereign state, the aggressor attacked the major principles of the civilized world order enshrined in the UN Charter and fundamental international documents.

Russia has deliberately become an outlaw. This state must bear liability for all the crimes it has committed in Ukraine, not witnessed in Europe since the Second World War, and compensate the losses and damages.

As of today, the total volume of frozen sovereign Russian assets amounts to approximately EUR 300 billion. This includes some EUR 200 billion in the European Union.

We call on the leaders of the Group of Seven and the European Union to approve the long-awaited decision to let Ukraine use Russian sovereign assets and funnel them to compensate damages caused and inflicted upon Ukraine and Ukrainians.

On 14 November 2022, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the resolution for “Furtherance of remedy and reparation for aggression against Ukraine” and recognized 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, as well as any violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, 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 UNGA decision along with other international acts, condemning Russia’s aggression, proved to be a critical underlying legal basis for bringing the Russian aggressor to justice and ensuring it makes reparations for damage.

The usage of Russian sovereign assets should be considered a collective countermeasure. The UN International Law Commission on State Liability has codified the relevant norms of such actions.

Meanwhile, the aggressor feels its impunity. Abusing its status as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Russia considers itself immune from international law and justice. The subsequent transfer of the Russian assets to Ukraine is one of the mandatory steps to ensure the aggressor feels the burden of international liability. It will also be a valuable lesson to other regimes attempting to undermine international law and order.

As a result of its own actions, the damages caused by Russia should be compensated primarily at Russia’s expense. Taxpayers in Western countries will welcome the decision to utilize Russian assets for the needs of Ukraine, thus lessening the burden on their respective national budgets.

Ukraine and Ukrainians, as direct victims of Russian aggression, are entitled to be fully compensated by Russia for the damage it inflicted upon them. Until Russia brings itself into compliance with international law and compensates Ukraine and Ukrainians fully by way of legally binding reparations, Ukraine and Ukrainians should become the recipients of Russian sovereign assets.

We call on world leaders to take several important steps.

It is necessary to form an open register of frozen sovereign Russian assets, indicating their amounts, types of assets, their location, current state of use and revenues thereon. It is necessary to disclose terms and conditions of current utilization of all frozen sovereign assets of the Russian Federation.

Until the final decision on transfer is made, the revenues stemming from the use of Russia’s frozen assets must be directed to Ukraine and Ukrainians. We welcome the recent decision of the Belgium Government to use the tax revenue from frozen Russian assets in Ukraine’s interests. However, further actions are needed in the European Union and the United States to find a proper solution.

In June 2023, the Bill “Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity (REPO) for Ukrainians Act” was introduced in the United States Congress. Its legal mechanisms empower the U.S. President to utilize sovereign assets of the Russian Federation. Enactment of this Bill will provide the United States Government with additional tools to take action.

Respective actions, including necessary legislative decisions, should be taken by the European Union and its member states to ensure the solution of this critical demand.

The Russian sovereign assets should be contributed to a special Ukraine Recovery Fund managed by the representatives of G7 nations, in consultation with the Government of Ukraine. According to World Bank estimates, in February 2023 the cost of recovery in Ukraine has already reached USD 411 billion. This number grows day after day. The Russian sovereign assets of EUR 300 billion fail to compensate the whole measure of losses yet will become a significant contribution to the cause of saving and rebuilding a democratic, resilient, European Ukraine.

The time has come to cast aside doubts and unsubstantiated concerns.

The time has come to make a fundamental decision—a decision that is crucial for the victory and rebuilding of Ukraine.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Chairman of the Kyiv Security Forum, Prime Minister of Ukraine in 2014-16

Lawrence H. Summers, President Emeritus of Harvard University, the United States Secretary of the Treasury in 1999-2001

Amb. Robert B. Zoellick, President of the World Bank in 2007-12, United States Deputy Secretary of State in 2005-06, United States Trade Representative in 2001-05

Philip Zelikow, Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, Counselor of the United States Department of State in 2005-07

Andrius Kubilius, Prime Minister of Lithuania in 1999-2000 and 2008-12, Member of the European Parliament, Co-chair of the Euronest

Taavi Rõivas, Prime Minister of Estonia in 2014-16

Nathalie Loiseau, Minister of France for European Affairs in 2017-19, Member of the European Parliament

Michael Gahler, Member of the European Parliament

Amb. Christoph Heusgen, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations in 2017-21

Amb. John Herbst, Senior Director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, the United States Ambassador to Ukraine in 2003-06

Danylo Lubkivsky, Director of the Kyiv Security Forum, Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine in 2014

Dr. Francis Fukuyama, Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies

Garry Kasparov, Chairman of the Renew Democracy Initiative (RDI), Chairman of the Human Rights Foundation (HRF)

Amb. Paula Dobriansky, the United States Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs in 2001-09

Amb. Alexander Vershbow, Distinguished Fellow at the Atlantic Council, NATO Deputy Secretary General in 2012-16, the United States Ambassador to South Korea in 2005-08 and the United States Ambassador to Russia in 2001-05

Amb. Daniel Fried, the United States Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs in 2005-09, the State Department Coordinator for Sanctions Policy in 2013-17 and the United States Ambassador to Poland in 1997-2000

Amb. Eric Edelman, the United States Under Secretary of Defense for Policy in 2005-09, the United States Ambassador to Turkey in 2003-05 and the United States Ambassador to Finland in 1998-2001

Amb. Michael McFaul, Director at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, the United States Ambassador to Russia in 2012-14

David Kramer, Executive Director at the George W. Bush Institute, the United States Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor in 2008-09

Dr. Evelyn Farkas, Executive Director of the McCain Institute, the United States Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia in 2012-15

Tom Malinowski, Senior Fellow at the McCain Institute, United States Congressman in 2019-23

Amb. Douglas Lute, the United States Ambassador to NATO in 2013-17

Amb. Marie Yovanovitch, the United States Ambassador to Ukraine in 2016-19

Amb. William B. Taylor, Vice President of the United States Institute for Peace, the United States Ambassador to Ukraine in 2006-09

Amb. Carlos Pascual, the United States Ambassador to Ukraine in 2000-03

Amb. Steven Pifer, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, the United States Ambassador to Ukraine in 1998-2000

Amb. Stephen Sestanovich, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Professor at Columbia University, the United States Ambassador-at-Large for the former Soviet Union in 1997-2001

Amb. Richard Morningstar, Founding Chairman of the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center, the United States Ambassador to Azerbaijan in 2012-14 and the United States Ambassador to the European Union in 1999-2001

Amb. P. Michael McKinley, the United States Ambassador to Brazil in 2017-18, the United States Ambassador to Afghanistan in 2015-16, the United States Ambassador to Colombia in 2010-13 and the United States Ambassador to Peru in 2007-10

Franklin Kramer, Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Distinguished Fellow and Board Director at the Atlantic Council

Laurence H. Tribe, Carl M. Loeb University Professor Emeritus at Harvard University

Steven Tian, Research Director at Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute

Dr. Anders Åslund, Former Advisor to the President of Ukraine in 1994-97

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Lester Crown Professor of Leadership Practice at Yale School of Management

* Institutional affiliation listed for identification purposes only.