The Swiss authorities do not exclude the use of frozen Russian assets to restore Ukraine, but so far there is no legal basis for this.

This statement was made in an interview with the SRF TV channel by the head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Switzerland, Ignazio Cassis.

“It's not entirely out of the question.

This is an important source of funding.

The damage caused must be compensated by the aggressor.

This principle works.

We must act exclusively within the legal framework.

At the moment, there are no laws in Switzerland that allow you to receive frozen funds,” he said.

According to Cassis, this issue is being discussed "in almost all European countries" and in many other countries of the world, so "an internationally coordinated procedure" is very important.

“We must look for solutions comparable to the declaration of human rights.

Let's not forget that the right to property is a human right.

It is this topic that is being dealt with at the UN.

We are also in contact with the EU on this topic.

In addition, we act within the framework of the working group, as well as in conjunction with the G7.

There are also internal and parliamentary proposals and requests for what can be done,” the diplomat said.

He added that national and international legal norms can be changed, because "law is a structure created by people."

This issue is being worked out in the European Parliament.

So, on January 19, the EP deputies adopted a resolution to create a tribunal against the Russian Federation because of the events in Ukraine.

The document contains a clause regarding the possible confiscation of frozen Russian assets.

“(European Parliament. -

RT

) calls on the EU and member states, as well as their partners and allies, to take part in discussing the legal possibility of using Russia's sovereign assets as reparations for Russia's violations of international law in Ukraine, including through the potential deprivation of such assets sovereign immunity or limitation of such protection in the light of the gross nature of these violations, ”the document, which has no legal force and is advisory in nature, says.

According to Federation Council Vice Speaker Konstantin Kosachev, there is currently no legal mechanism for the confiscation of Russian assets, as US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen pointed out back in May.

“I would like the authors of crazy European resolutions and their voters to clearly understand: no quasi-legal husk that Western structures can spawn will have any legal force for Russia, does not comply with international law and will not be able to cover up the essence of what is happening - the theft of other people's funds that were entrusted to the states of the West, based on their reputation as reliable partners, ”the senator wrote in his Telegram channel.

"Plans of unfriendly countries"

It is worth noting that after the start of the special operation in Ukraine, the topic of confiscation of assets of the Russian Federation is regularly raised in Europe at various levels.

According to the Russian authorities, Western countries have frozen about half of the country's gold and foreign exchange reserves in the amount of about $300 billion. In addition, the assets of a number of Russian legal entities and individuals have been blocked.

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At the end of November, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, proposed the creation of a structure for managing and investing Russian funds.

The resulting profit, according to her, will go to the needs of Ukraine.

“And as soon as the sanctions are lifted, these funds should be used to ensure that Russia pays full compensation for the damage caused to Ukraine,” Von der Leyen said.

Other European politicians come up with similar initiatives.

Thus, the Deputy Head of the European Commission, Vera Yurova, in an interview with Politico, said that the European Union is studying the possibilities for using the frozen reserves of the Central Bank of Russia.

And the Prime Minister of Sweden, which presides over the EU Council, Ulf Kristersson, proposed to seriously analyze how the West can use Russian money to restore Ukraine.

In early January, Bloomberg, citing sources, reported that Germany was ready to use the frozen Russian assets to restore Ukraine, provided that legal issues are resolved and other allies do the same.

However, not all European countries are ready to wait for a collective decision on this issue.

Thus, Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu, in an interview with Postimees, said that Tallinn plans to independently develop a mechanism for transferring frozen Russian financial assets to Ukraine.

He also stated that at the level of the EU this issue is not moving forward.

European Commission representative Christian Wiegand later praised Estonia's decision.

In Moscow, such plans were called a gross encroachment on the sovereign property of Russia.

“The plans of unfriendly countries, including the aforementioned Estonia, to use the funds of the Russian state to solve their political problems are perceived by us only as a gross encroachment on sovereign property and will cause an adequate response,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

According to her, the refusal of unfriendly countries to interact with the Russian Federation in the legal field "will demonstrate to all participants in the modern world financial architecture the dependence of the status of sovereign assets of national states on the geopolitical realities of the market in several Western countries."

The press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov also spoke about the illegality of such actions.

“It is clear that the Estonian leadership wants to become an excellent student in this field and set some precedent.

Whatever actions are taken in this context, they will be absolutely insignificant and illegal from the point of view of international law.

And of course, they will have consequences for those countries that somehow support such an idea,” he stressed.

"Confiscate the assets of Western companies"

Analysts say the EU is in no hurry to confiscate Russian assets, as European officials are well aware that this could lead to a series of lawsuits.

“Europeans are afraid of litigation and the associated costs and fines that can be recovered by a court decision.

After all, these assets have owners, and this is not necessarily the state.

Therefore, in Switzerland it was rightly noted that there are no legal grounds for such actions.

There is no mechanism that has been worked out, ”Vadim Kozyulin, head of the Center for Global Studies and International Relations of the IAMP Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said in an interview with RT.

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In turn, associate professor of Moscow State University Boris Mezhuev believes that the West is still limited to rhetoric on the possible confiscation of assets of the Russian Federation, as it is waiting for the end of the conflict in Ukraine.

“The West stops the incompleteness of hostilities.

Now they do not want to make any final decisions, since no one knows how everything will turn out in the end - who will dictate the terms and how the settlement will go.

In addition, the confiscation may complicate the economic interaction between the Russian Federation and the West, which still continues to a limited extent, ”he explained in a conversation with RT.

Vadim Kozyulin also drew attention to the fact that Russia can give a symmetrical response to the confiscation of its funds being discussed by the West.

“Moscow may react in reverse and confiscate the assets of Western companies in Russia.

They are still working in our country.

So at the political level, the West might be ready to quickly resolve the issue of confiscation, but in legal terms, this is a big problem.

The costs of such a step may be greater than the profit, ”the expert believes.

We add that in November 2022, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said: Moscow has the opportunity to compensate for the damage from the possible confiscation of Russian funds by the West.

“If ... national acts on the theft of Russian assets are adopted, we will have no choice.

It will be necessary to irrevocably withdraw the money and property of private investors from such countries, although they are not responsible for the fools of their governments.

They (foreign loans, funds frozen in accounts and other valuables) in our country, by a happy coincidence, are just more than $ 300 billion. Enough to compensate for what was stolen from Russia, ”he wrote in his Telegram channel.

Ruslan Kostyuk, a professor at the Faculty of International Relations at St Petersburg University, believes that the likely damage from Russia's retaliatory measures may affect the final decision of Western countries on the issue of blocked assets of the Russian Federation.

“For Western countries, economic calculations play an important role, although the behavior of the EU in the situation with the same Nord Stream was clearly unprofitable for the region, but this did not stop European politicians.

And yet, for a part of the Western countries, whose business circles have actively invested in the Russian economy, the response measures of the Russian Federation are an important aspect, ”concluded the analyst.