Ten lawyers have argued that the seizure would be legitimate due to the Ukraine conflict
A group of self-styled “experienced public international lawyers and practitioners” have put together a case for confiscating Russian sovereign funds currently frozen by the US and its allies, saying it would be the appropriate response to Moscow’s “unlawful conduct” towards Ukraine.
Approximately €260 billion ($280 billion) in Russian sovereign funds were frozen by the Group of Seven countries in 2022. The UK and the US have recently demanded the outright seizure of these funds in order to fund the government in Kiev.
The letter in which the “experts” – from the UK, US, Belgium, France, Germany, Japan and the Netherlands – make their case to the G7 has been obtained by Bloomberg.
“Having given our most serious consideration to this issue, we have concluded that it would be lawful, under international law, for States which have frozen Russian State assets to take additional countermeasures against Russia, given its ongoing breach of the most fundamental rules of international law,” the signatories claimed.
According to their case, Russian state assets could be seized “as compensation for the damage that has resulted directly from Russia’s unlawful conduct,” which they define as an “invasion” and “occupation” of parts of Ukraine.
Read more