The controversial question of potentially unfreezing about €300 billion (£260bn) of frozen Russian state assets to aid Ukraine was raised at a keynote session addressed by diplomats.
Anton Korynevych, lawyer and ambassador-at-large in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, was asked if confiscation was feasible despite the protection afforded by sovereign immunity. IBA executive director Dr Mark Ellis had indicated that the Council of Europe has shown a willingness to reconsider the prohibition on confiscation.
Korynevych argued that grave breaches of international law by the Russian Federation in ‘the most brutal war since WW2’ provide a basis for such a measure. He drew a distinction between reparations and compensation to be paid by Russia with assistance provided by allies that did not meet that definition. ‘It is only Russian Federation assets, principally sovereign, which should be taken for that purpose. We in Kyiv believe that it will not be a breach of the principle of sovereign equality.’
Thomas Lund-Sørensen, Denmark’s ambassador to Ukraine, pointed to the difficulty of achieving consensus among EU countries, but said Denmark is ‘in agreement with Ukraine on the political side.’
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