Top European officials have set up an international body to decide on tens of billions of euros of eventual reparations to compensate Ukraine over Russia’s invasion.
The treaty, establishing the International Claims Commission of Ukraine, was signed at a high-level summit in The Hague attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and EU Foreign Policy Chief Kaja Kallas.
The International Claims Commission for Ukraine will assess and decide on claims for reparations, including any amount to be paid out.
The commission’s establishment follows the setting up of a so-called “Register of Damages,” which has already received more than 80,000 claims for reparations from individuals or organisations.
The reparations mechanism is being coordinated via the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, the 46-nation group protecting human rights on the continent.
Speaking at the launch of the International Claims Commission for Ukraine, Zelenskyy said that “all pressure on Russia must remain in place for as long as occupation of our land continue.”
“As long as our people remain in Russian captivity and until the Ukrainian children abducted by Russia are brought home, sanctions must limit Russia, until it shows respect for peaceful for peaceful life and the rights of its neighbours. And of course, of course, every Russian war crime must have consequences for those who committed them.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
He said that making Russia accountable for its crimes is needed to “that others learn not to choose aggression.”
Also at the launch, Moldova’s President Maia Sandu, warned that “where accountability is avoided or postponed, violence returns, often in more destabilising forms.”
“Accountability is a condition of security today and for the future. But accountability is not only about Ukraine, and it is not only about one aggressor and one victim. Accountability is about Europe, about every country in Europe, it is about whether Europe as a whole is willing to defend its peace.”
Maia Sandu
EU Foreign Policy Chief, Kaja Kallas said that Russia cannot escape paying the bill for its war in Ukraine.
She noted that the commission, which will validate war damages in Ukraine to be paid by Russia, sends a message to future aggressors that “if you start a war, you will be held to account.”
She also announced the EU would provide “up to one €1m” to pay for the preparatory work for the new commission.
Envoys Seek To Narrow Reparation Loan Gaps
The launch comes as European Union envoys worked to narrow gaps on a plan to use billions of dollars in frozen Russian assets as collateral for a massive loan to cover Ukraine’s economic and military needs over the next two years, ahead of a crunch summit of EU leaders later this week.
Such a move has never been made before, and it comes with risks.
EU leaders froze the money, most of it in Russian Central Bank assets, over the war that President Vladimir Putin launched in February 2022. Moscow has described the plan as “theft.”
Then last Friday, the EU placed an indefinite freeze on the assets — estimated to total around 210 billion euros ($247 billion) — to ensure that Hungary and Slovakia, both with Moscow-friendly governments, can’t prevent the billions of euros from being used to support Ukraine.
Two plans for using the money have emerged. The first would be a “reparations loan” that would use the Russian assets until Moscow agrees to pay for the damage inflicted on Ukraine. Few think Putin will ever agree to pay reparations.
Second plan would be for the EU to borrow the money on financial markets, much as the bloc did to fund a massive loan plan to revive European economies after the coronavirus pandemic. However, many of Europe’s major economies are cash-strapped and mired in debt.
Belgium, where most of the assets are held, is the main opponent of the plan. It fears that Russia will strike back, either through the courts or in more nefarious ways.
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