During her working visit to the Republic of Latvia, the Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Olena Kondratiuk met with the Minister of Justice of Latvia Inese Libina-Egnere.
The parties discussed the legal support for the confiscation of frozen russian assets for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
“This is one of the issues related to the creation of an international special tribunal to punish russia for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.
Appropriate legal mechanisms for confiscation of frozen assets under sanctions should be created at the level of the European Union,” said Olena Kondratiuk.
For her part, the Minister of Justice assured that Latvia would act as Ukraine’s lawyer in this matter. In her opinion, the parliaments and governments of the EU countries should work together to achieve appropriate regulation at the EU level. Such a pan-European legal mechanism for confiscation of russian assets in favor of Ukraine will be more effective and protected from possible appeals, emphasized Inese Libina-Egnere.
The Vice-Speaker Olena Kondratiuk expressed gratitude to Latvia for supporting the confiscation and transfer of russian assets to Ukraine. She also recalled that Latvia was one of the first in the EU, along with other Baltic countries, to take this fair position and support the UN General Assembly Resolution on the establishment of a mechanism for compensation for damage caused by full-scale russian aggression.
“russia’s aggression has caused damage and destruction to Ukrainian infrastructure, our cities and communities worth more than UAH 750 billion. Therefore, the freezing of russian funds and assets by the EU countries alone is not enough. These funds must be confiscated and used to rebuild Ukraine as soon as possible, without waiting for the war to end,” the Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine emphasized.
