Estonian parlt committee supports use of frozen Russian assets for Ukraine

TALLINN – The constitutional committee of the Estonian parliament on Tuesday supported and sent to the plenary for first reading a government-initiated bill, which creates an opportunity to use Russian assets frozen under international sanctions to compensate for the war damages caused to Ukraine.

Constitutional committee chairman Hendrik Johannes Terras said that the European Union has adopted 11 sanctions packages against Russia, which is waging a war of aggression against Ukraine, and plans to continue tightening the sanctions in order to increase the price of aggression for Russia.

"At the same time, we also need to specify laws domestically so that no one can circumvent the already established sanctions. It is also necessary to create a regulation that would allow the use of assets frozen in Estonia based on international sanctions to compensate for the war damage caused to Ukraine," Terras said.

The government-initiated bill of amendments to the International Sanctions Act and other acts creates a domestic mechanism to ensure the property liability of the aggressor state for the damage caused by the most serious violations of international law. The amendment enables the use of the assets of people and companies that have contributed to Russia's illegal actions as an advance payment for damages that Russia owes Ukraine.

In addition, the draft specifies the competences of state authorities in the implementation of international sanctions and provides them with clearer legal bases for the implementation and supervision of sanctions.