It’s about the “ill-gotten gains associated with Russia’s kleptocracy,” President Biden said.
The United States is making a bill that gives the government the power to confiscate the property of Russian kleptocrats. The confiscated assets will be sold and the proceeds will be transferred to Ukraine.
Canada also plans to transfer confiscated Russian assets to Ukraine’s reconstruction. This topic is increasingly being discussed in Europe, including the European Commission study. Today, Ireland announced its support for the initiative. Athletistic telling details.
The money “bad guy” will go to Ukraine
The administration of US President Joe Biden has submitted a bill to Congress that gives the government the power to confiscate the identified and seize the property of Russian kleptocrats and sell it to Ukraine.
Lawmakers in both houses of Congress spoke in support of such measures. The other day, a similar proposal was approved by too many members of the House of Representatives from both parties, but the White House came up with a more expanded plan.
Biden allocates additional funding to expand the activities of the U.S. Department of Justice unit, which is engaged in identifying and freezing property of Russian businessmen, illegally acquired (KleptoCapture Task Force), Biden provides additional pondo.
Announcing this change, the US President said it was about “ill-gotten income associated with Russia’s kleptocracy.” According to him, U.S. law enforcement agencies will be able to “remove the yachts and luxurious homes of Russia’s oligarchs,” which he called “bad people.”
In addition to the possibility of using the seized property of the Russians “to compensate for the damage caused by Ukraine,” the package includes measures to combat facilitation of the prevention of sanctions and money laundering, strengthening coordination of the pressure of sanctions on Russia along with US foreign partners.
The State Department says Russia’s Central Bank assets blocked due to Western sanctions could also be taken and transferred to Ukraine. It was previously reported that Western countries had frozen half of Russia’s gold and foreign exchange reserves, which amounted to approximately $ 300 billion.
“This is one of the questions we asked our attorneys to look at: what powers might be needed to seize these assets,” U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said at a hearing. to the relevant committee of the House of Representatives.
However, civil liberties advocates point out that the proposed bill is weak on lawsuits because it may be contrary to the U.S. constitution. It is not yet clear how the administration intends to solve this problem.
The federal treasury has already seized more than a billion dollars worth of ships and planes associated with Russia’s oligarchs and frozen hundreds of millions of dollars in bank deposits, the White House said in a statement.
Canada also plans to donate confiscated Russian assets to rebuild Ukraine and compensate those affected by Russia’s full-scale aggression. This was announced on April 28 by Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, who commented on the federal government’s decision to change the sanctions law.
“These changes will make the Canadian sanctions regime the first in the G7 to allow such actions,” he said.
According to him, the sanctions regime has already damaged Russia’s economy and exhausted Vladimir Putin’s resources to continue the war, and Canada will continue to exert maximum pressure on the Kremlin regime.
The text of the bill states that the confiscated assets could be used to “restore a foreign state that has suffered from a serious violation of global peace and security.”
The Kremlin declared “the deepest misunderstanding and denial.” “This, of course, is a very dangerous precedent, which is an outright distortion of any legal standard, a violation of all legal concepts. It is nothing but the expropriation of private property and an attempt to pseudo- legitimize this expropriation, ”Russian Presidential Speaker Dmitry Peskov said on April 29.
The EU could make a tough mafia law the basis
The European Union has frozen 35 billion euros of Russia’s assets in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Bloomberg calculated. France leads the EU countries, blocking 23.5 billion euros.
On April 29, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said his country’s authorities were open to the proposal to use Russia’s fixed assets to help Ukraine, he said. It is known that Ireland has frozen Russian assets worth approximately 1.2 billion euros.
“Some EU member states have proposed the seizure of frozen assets as part of the situation in Ukraine and are using them, among other things, to bring back Ukraine. I am open to the proposal this, ”Coveney said.
The minister added that before approving such a decision, extensive discussion is needed to create a clear legal framework. Representatives of the Irish opposition also offered to send fixed assets of the Russian Federation to help Ukrainian refugees arrive in Ireland.
The other day, the British Financial Times newspaper wrote that the topic of the confiscation of Russian assets is attracting more and more attention in Europe, including the European Commission study.
Poland is an ardent supporter of this idea, believing that the ownership of Russia’s oligarchic sanctions, as well as funds from the fixed reserves of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, should be used to finance restoration of Ukraine.
“The basic principle is that Russia has started this war and he must pay for it. I believe we need a political decision that we want to move in this direction, that we want to confiscate these assets forever. How to do it” We are open to discussions here, ”Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonsky told FT.
European officials have warned of serious legal hurdles across the EU to asset removal in non-criminal cases. Lawyers said measures that would facilitate the confiscation of assets could set a dangerous precedent and jeopardize the very concept of property rights, the paper said.
“Everyone knows this is a pretty risky path if the authorities start to arbitrarily take assets, but clearly both the assets of the oligarchs and the reserves of the Russian Central Bank could be useful. “benefits for the restoration of Ukraine and the provision of humanitarian assistance to it,” said Nate Sibley, an expert at the Hudson Institute.
In Brussels, the possibility of confiscation of the assets of individuals trying to evade sanctions is being considered. However, such a measure is only available in countries where evasion of penalties is a criminal offense.
In Italy, where yachts and villas worth more than a billion euros have been frozen by authorized Russians, tough anti-mafia laws have been put in place that could serve as a model for confiscation and subsequent sale of assets, written by FT.
The country’s authorities, in accordance with the law, have the right to confiscate the property of persons connected with organized crime and “dangerous to society”.
Such a concept could be used in connection with the assets of Russian oligarchs who provoked the outbreak of the conflict or directly benefited from it, says an Italian prosecutor who has dealt with mafia issues in many years.
Lawyers stress that wealthy Russians can challenge sanctions in the courts, so the possibility of unfreeze their assets remains.
What Ukraine has to offer
Ukraine is working with a group of international lawyers on a mechanism that will use Russia’s fixed funds to compensate for losses incurred as a result of the Moscow invasion, Justice Minister Denis Malyuska told Reuters April 21.
“We have chosen for ourselves the most important target-the money of the Central Bank and the National Welfare Fund of the Russian Federation. They are somewhere, there is an owner, and this owner certainly makes those criminal act, ”he said, referring to the state of Russia.
Malyuska noted that according to lawyers discussing the issue, the quickest solution would be if countries would pass their own national laws allowing the use of Russia’s fixed funds for Ukraine’s needs.
“It requires a certain level of courage and political will from each country,” he said.
Ukraine also proposed that the leading Western powers sign an international agreement to coordinate compensation mechanisms, the minister said.
“There is a lot of political interest here. Every country in the West understands that it looks strange if you help Ukraine with your taxpayers’ money, even if they have money from the Russian Federation,” Malyuska said.
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Source: korrespondent
