Council of Europe Unanimously Votes to Use Seized Russian Assets to Fund Ukraine Reconstruction
The resolution, adopted with 134 votes in favor, directs the seized Russian assets to compensate individuals and entities for damages caused by Russia’s illegal invasion
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (CoE) unanimously adopted a resolution on Tuesday (16 April) calling for frozen Russian assets to be transferred to a new fund to reconstruct Ukraine and compensate victims.
The Russian government should be held responsible for compensating the human and material losses incurred and “its destruction of Ukraine”, rapporteur for the file, Lulzim Basha (Albanian Democratic Party, EPP) said upon opening of the body’s session.
Basha’s resolution, adopted with 134 votes in favour and no abstentions or opposition, states the seized Russian assets should be used to compensate natural and legal persons for damages caused by Russia’s acts that have accompanied its illegal invasion.
“Today we vote to endorse the establishment of an International Compensation Mechanism, under the auspices of the Council of Europe, to comprehensively address the damages incurred by natural and legal persons concerned […] due to the unlawful actions of the Russian Federation in its invasion of Ukraine,” Basha said.
The mechanism, he said, would be given the authority and capacity to receive and review claims from Ukraine and other damaged parties — public and private — and distribute appropriate compensation for such claims in line with internationally agreed standards and procedures.
It would complement the register of damage caused by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, already created by the body
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