One of the key decisions on compensation to Ukraine from Russia may be made as early as this June at the Group of 7 leaders' summit in Italy.
This was stated by Minister of Justice Denys Malyuska during the discussion "Crime and Justice: How to Bring the Aggressor to Justice", organised by LB.ua and EFI Group as part of the New Country project. According to the minister, Russian money should start working for Ukraine in the coming months.
"In a month, there will be some kind of decision, most likely, a political decision. It may not be final, but transitional. The first step will be taken regarding the proceeds from Russian assets - whether to transfer them to Ukraine or use them in some other way. Or the income should be secreted through securities for a certain number of years ahead and these profits should be paid out now, transferring to us the funds from the profits that will be received over the next 10-20 years," he said.
Malyuska believes that a decision on full confiscation is unlikely to be made for now. Then Ukraine's negotiating position will be that this possibility cannot be ruled out in the future.
"We can definitely say that in the coming months, Russian money will start working for Ukraine. Some part of economic justice, however small, will be achieved before the end of the war," the minister said.
Malyuska added that the key obstacle for Ukraine in fairly punishing the aggressor was the concept of "no judgement for the winners". For now, this concept has been strategically abandoned.
According to this thesis, justice is usually achieved by the side that wins a war. But in order to establish justice, a number of mechanisms have been developed to bring Russia and its military to justice even before the end of the war.
"If we are talking about the economic component of responsibility, we have an understanding that some of the damage can be compensated without waiting for the war to end and even regardless of how it ends. There are funds of the Russian Federation abroad - sovereign funds in the first place - but there are also funds of state-owned companies, and funds of Russian oligarchs. But the oligarchs' money is a very, very small part of the Russian sovereign funds," the minister said.
Currently, efforts are underway to ensure that the frozen Russian funds reach Ukraine, its citizens, and local governments affected by the war.