Confiscation of the aggressor's assets: what was confiscated and when
The property of the occupiers worth almost 1 billion hryvnias is already acting against russia
At the beginning of April, with 305 votes Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (the Supreme Council of Ukraine) adopted a bill, that was clarifying the procedure for nationalizing the property of the aggressor country in Ukraine, “On the basic principles of forcible confiscation in Ukraine of property rights of the Russian Federation and its residents with clarifications of a few provisions.” It was sent to get a signature from the president.
Despite the fact that the bill was formally initiated by five people's deputies led by Dmytro Natalukha, it is fully in line with the national paradigm and is not a private parliamentary initiative, but a program document.
Whose property is being confiscated? The juridical grounding for the forcible confiscation of assets belonging to individuals and legal entities – residents of the russian federation – to the budget for the future reparations.
The list of residents includes not only citizens of the russian federation, but also persons indirectly connected with the russian state, even if they don't have a russian passport. “Close connection” is interpreted as permanent residence, work or business in russia, which hasn't been terminated since February 24, 2022. An exception may be those russians who are fighting in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
In the case of legal entities, the reason for confiscation of assets may be the founder/participant/shareholder or beneficiary, connected with the aggressor country.
Regarding a business, which is operating in Ukraine, the aggressor state may not have a share in the authorized capital or be a participant in the second level, i.e. co-owner of legal entities, which in turn are direct or indirect participants or beneficiaries of the Ukrainian company.
According to the decision of the court and/or the National Security and Defense Council, such residents may be equated with individuals and legal entities who support or deny russia's military aggression and those who continue working in russia. Thus, the possibility of avoiding nationalization through intermediary structures is completely eliminated or largely reduced.
How will it help? The formulation about reparations on the background of enormous damage caused by russians to Ukrainian citizens and the state, almost guaranteed to exclude the possibility for russians to appeal the decision on confiscation in court.
Another one bonus of the document is that foreign business, if it expects to continue operating in Ukraine, receives another incentive to leave the market of the aggressor country.
How to “pick up the “russian trail””? Some discussions are being provoked by the rule on the role of the National Security and Defense Council during nationalization, because, as an advisory body, the Council cannot have independent powers. Most likely, in order to eliminate this collision, the sanctions of the National Security and Defense Council will be supported by court decisions.
It should be noted that the process of identifying russian property in Ukraine started in the first days of the war, which didn't leave time to clarify certain provisions of the bill. This work is carried out most systematically and effectively by the State Bureau of Investigation. Probably due to the fact that the department, according to its powers, was prepared from the very beginning, in particular, to search for collaborators and detect treason.
Work on identifying russian assets in Ukraine and redirecting them to supporting the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the State Bureau of Investigation has begun on its own initiative in the first decade of March.
Are there any results? Since the beginning of the war, more than a billion hryvnias of such property has been confiscated and used for the benefit of the Ukrainian defence and the economy.
“Among other things, the State Bureau of Investigation officers, within the limits of their powers, are establishing the presence of property belonging to the occupying country in Ukraine and informing the civil-military administrations and the commanders of military units about its location,” the office reported in a statement issued on March 8.
Mind studied the dynamics of this activity and its results.
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