Ukraine Insists on Multi-Billion Reparations from Russia: How Much and on What Terms Should the Inavders Pay?
The United Nations supported Ukraine’s claims despite Russia’s protests.
Follow us on Google
This week, the UN General Assembly this week adopted a draft resolution on Russia's reparations to Ukraine for the invasion. The document was supported by 94 countries and opposed by 14, including Russia, China, Belarus, Iran, Syria, Cuba, Zimbabwe and Eritrea. The Kremlin called the UN General Assembly's decision "a robbery" and unleashed a new round of threats against Ukraine and the West.
The Russian leadership pledged to do everything possible to prevent the seizure of its foreign assets to pay damages. However, Ukraine is optimistic. Payment of reparations is one of the key conditions put forward by President Vladimir Zelenskyi for peace with Russia. The presidential office assured that Russia "will pay for all its crimes in every sense." The Ukrainian officials named the amount of at least $300 billion in their claims.
TSN.ua has gathered all available details about Ukraine’s possibilities to seek compensation for the damages caused by the war.
Zelenskyi Targets Russian Gold and Currency Reserves
In his comment for the TSN’s Youtube channel, Oleh Ustenko, economic advisor to the President of Ukraine, said that Ukraine claims $350 billion of Russian gold and foreign currency reserves.
"It is difficult to estimate our losses now. We understand that they are growing, but we also understand who will pay them. This was clearly stated at the United Nations, and President Zelenskyi, speaking at the G20, also reiterated this – the damages will be compensated by the Russian Federation. They have $350 billion in foreign exchange reserves, but now they cry out: this is our money, we're not giving it away. When they were destroying our infrastructure, annihilating our businesses and not interfering with normal operation with our country by bombing our critical structures of our infrastructure, what were they thinking about? They weren't thinking that they will have to pay for it with this funds. We're going to claim their $350 billion in foreign exchange reserves, and we're getting close to actually receiving this money," the Adviser said
Ustenko also added that the $150 billion that Putin's inner circle siphoned off out of Russia are now under arrest.
When asked to estimate the damages from the war, he noted that the country's GDP could fall by 35 percent by the end of the year.
Kremlin Responded to Ukraine and the West
During his briefing on November 15th, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the UN General Assembly resolution on reparations to Ukraine a "robbery" of the Russian state.
"Of course, the organizers of this process are trying to complete the robbery of our gold and foreign currency reserves, illegally blocked. This is the formalization of this robbery using the UN platform. Russia is categorically against it," Peskov said.
He added that the Kremlin "would do everything possible" to prevent the confiscation of Russian reserves frozen by the West.
Russian Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev called the UN General Assembly decision "the lawlessness" and hinted that the Kremlin's response would be new missile strikes on Ukraine and confiscation of assets of Western companies in Russia.
"All in all, it's sad: the UN has made such lawless decisions that it’s time to kill the lights. And the lights will be killed. Another day," Medvedev wrote in his Telegram channel.
He also noted that the Russian Federation has more than $300 billion in foreign loans frozen in accounts and other valuables, and this would be "enough to compensate for what was stolen from Russia."
"If national legislative instruments legalizing the robbery of Russian assets are adopted based on the UN General Assembly’s resolution plucked from the air by hostile countries, we will be left with no choice, but to irrevocably seize the money and property of private investors from such countries, even though they are not responsible for the fools in their governments," Medvedev said.
Russia’s Consent for Payment of Reparations Won’t Be Needed
In his interview for FreeDom channel, Ukrainian Minister of Justice Denys Maliuska said on that the Ukrainian authorities "are not interested in what the Kremlin thinks, what Peskov or Medvedev thinks" about reparations reparation .
"Certainly we like their reaction, because these guys are mildly concerned so to say, and that's nice to see. The most beautiful part of it is that Russia kept a considerable amount of money abroad in our partner countries. Huge amounts, hundreds of billions of dollars, are deposited in G7 countries and some non-G7 European Union countries. According to our estimates based on likely underestimated public reports by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation has, there is about $300 billion in countries kept in countries other than China, where we access Russian money, and judging by Peskov's reaction, these money are still there," the Minister said.
Maliuska suggested that the decision to launch a full-scale aggression on February 24 was made in a very narrow circle of individuals:
"Those who were directly responsible for managing the foreign exchange reserves of the Russian Federation, obviously, were not aware of the date of the attack, so they physically did not have time to move significant amounts of money to some place where we could not get them. Maybe they also did not expect our radical actions and the radical actions of our partners in the West. Huge amounts of money have been frozen, and we do not need the consent of Russia to take this money away. Consent is needed from the partner countries, where this money is deposited."
When asked if Russia was bluffing by threatening with military response to seize Western assets, the Justice Minister said:
"I'm not sure, they went crazy a long time ago, so any kind of actions can be taken by them. If they confiscate private assets of the companies that have either left the Russian Federation, or have not yet managed to leave, they will not just shoot themselves in the leg, but also in the head. This would put an end to any possible investment climate or the resumption of any normal investment activity and international trade with Russia in the future. If it’s not enough for them to pay Ukraine, sooner or later they will also have to pay all those businesses whose assets they may seize.
Read also:
The World Must See It: a Doctor Showed How Surgeons in Lviv Perform Heart Surgery in Half-Darkness
Putin’s Representative Rejected Zelenskyi's Idea of Public Peace Talks: "It's Hard to Imagine”