Berlin is categorically against the seizure of Russian assets in favor of Ukraine: WSJ learned the reason

Germany fears this will set a precedent and provoke new lawsuits against them for World War II crimes.

Berlin has become one of the most vocal opponents of attempts to seize part of the nearly $300 billion in frozen Kremlin assets , writes The Wall Street Journal .

“Germany fears that seizing, rather than freezing, these funds could set a precedent and provoke new lawsuits against them for World War II crimes,” the publication notes.

Demands for further reparations from World War II dogged Germany for decades, at times worsening relations with its neighbors. After World War II, Berlin paid compensation to the Allied Powers and the then Soviet Union for Germany’s war of aggression. Germany has also given more than $90 billion to Holocaust survivors and their families since 1952, according to Jewish groups.

However, recently there have been renewed calls for further reparations. Poland has demanded $1.3 trillion in compensation from Berlin since 2022, while Greece has asked for more than $300 billion since 2019.

Courts in Italy have also awarded restitution payments to families of victims of the occupation in recent years. Some Italian courts then attempted to confiscate German state assets, including real estate in Italy belonging to German schools and cultural, historical and archaeological institutions.

“Berlin argues that international law prohibits private citizens from suing states in foreign courts and that state assets are protected from confiscation. But Berlin officials say violating that principle in the Russian case would undermine Germany’s long-standing legal position,” the WSJ writes.

Germany also argues that Russian assets should be left intact so they can be used as leverage in any negotiations to end the war and encourage Russia to cede some of the Ukrainian territory it occupies.

Slawomir Debski, head of the Pism think tank, said another reason for Berlin’s refusal to seize Russian assets could be that it is protecting German companies still operating there from retaliation. The Leave Russia group, which advocates for Western companies to exit the Russian market, says 272 German companies still operate there.

However, Bart Szewczyk, a lawyer at the American law firm Covington, said that Berlin’s concerns about setting a precedent for reparations cases were unfounded.

“The logic of countermeasures clearly applies only to current and ongoing violations of international law, not to those that occurred 80 years ago,” he said.

But German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a lawyer who once ran his own law firm, is unwilling to take the risk.

Frozen assets of the Russian Federation for Ukraine

The US House of Representatives approved a bill to confiscate Russian assets for Ukraine. It is known that under this procedure, about 8 billion dollars can be received.

The EU has developed a plan to use the proceeds from the frozen assets of the Russian Federation . As EC Vice-President and EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Josep Borrell said, a decision was made to separate, identify and account for income from frozen assets. Now such income is in separate savings accounts. Borrell emphasized that such a mechanism for seizing income from Russian assets could bring in €3 billion a year.

(C)UNIAN 2024