Minister Maliuska: Many Russians already lose assets on Ukraine’s territory

The relevant statement was made by Ukrainian Justice Minister Denys Maliuska in an interview with Ukrinform.

“In general, the concept of confiscating the assets of collaborators and Russian businesses on the territory of Ukraine appeared, actually, with the aim of showing our Western partners that it is possible to do so, it is legal to do so, it is right, and to reject the arguments when we ask them – please confiscate, and they reply: you do not confiscate them on your own, so why should we do so? Accordingly, to show an example, we created such a mechanism by a separate law. It provides that in relation to those persons who collaborated with the Russian Federation, recognized and supported aggression, or themselves made decisions regarding such aggression, in the event that sanctions are applied to them by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, we, having collected evidence that they are collaborators, can apply to the High Anti-Corruption Court in order to seize their assets in favor of the state,” Maliuska told.

In his words, the idea was not to create a mechanism which would bring the state significant funds but to show that Ukraine is in the forefront of using sanctions, as well as to deprive Russians of any instruments of influence on Ukraine’s economy for security reasons.

“Hence, we are already talking about the fact that dozens of cases have been considered, a huge pile of assets have been transferred to the management of the State Property Fund or in favor of the state, both monetary assets and individual enterprises, or shopping malls. The array of assets is quite large. What is different about it is that the financial result from these operations is quite distant, i.e. this does not mean that, following such processes, we will receive billions in cash as soon as tomorrow,” Maliuska noted.

According to him, Ukraine received certain funds in cash that were in the accounts of individual enterprises, but it is not about some “huge sums”, because all these objects are complex and generate income in the medium and long term, and often they require restructuring or setting up business processes.

“But, again, from the perspective of security and limiting the influence of Russians on the country’s economy, from the perspective of the best practices of the sanctions mechanism, and from the perspective of the future long-term results, such as the privatization of seized assets, this mechanism is effective, it is active, and many Russian groups, oligarchs and members of parliament have already lost their assets on the territory of Ukraine,” Maliuska stressed.

A reminder that, in late January 2024, the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine (HACC) sustained a claim filed by the Ukrainian Justice Ministry regarding the nationalization of the Ukrainian assets owned by the sanctioned Russian oligarch, Eduard Khudaynatov.