The Estonian government has developed a legal scheme to use Russian assets frozen in the country for rebuilding Ukraine's infrastructure, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday, adding that the cabinet still had to agree on some details of the proposal
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th June, 2023) The Estonian government has developed a legal scheme to use Russian assets frozen in the country for rebuilding Ukraine's infrastructure, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday, adding that the cabinet still had to agree on some details of the proposal.
"We are almost ready with the solution and it has been discussed in the Cabinet, but some details still need to be specified. We can also demonstrate to other countries how the solution could work legally," Kallas told Estonian newspaper Postimees.
He also said that the government was expected to approve the scheme "in the coming weeks."
Meanwhile, Erki Kodar, the undersecretary of legal and consular affairs in the Estonian Foreign Ministry, stated that Tallinn had prepared amendments to the International Sanctions Act, which would oblige aggressor states to pay damages for violations of international law.
"According to the draft, compensation for the damages caused by the aggressor can be carried out as a so-called advance payment from frozen assets. The premise of using frozen assets in the context of the current war is that Ukraine identifies damage that needs to be compensated and Russia defaults on the obligation to compensate. Thus, the money can really only go to compensate for the damage caused to Ukraine," Kodar was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
The report added that allies needed to conclude an international agreement with Ukraine to keep records of damages and compensations.
The Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit has frozen 34.8 million euros ($38.1 million) due to sanctions, including over 8.7 million euros in advance payment accounts of the Tax and Customs Board, the report read.
Last week, European Commission spokesperson Christian Wigand announced that EU representatives, commissioners and legislators would start discussing in July a legal framework that would enable confiscation of assets of Russian citizens and entities accused of violating EU sanctions. EU banks are holding 24.1 billion euros of assets belonging to individuals and private entities, Wigand added.
The EU member states have also reported having more than 200 billion euros of Russian central bank's assets frozen in their banks.
