Iryna Mudra, Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine 

 

During a recent visit to Kiev, U.S. President Joe Biden stressed that a year ago many doubted that Ukraine would stand. However, we have not just survived, but continue to go to victory and restore justice.

Fights are fought not only on the front line, but also in offices, where lawyers and diplomats are gradually reducing the influence of the Russian Federation in international institutions and developing mechanisms for paying reparations. Over the past year, there have been many impressive achievements on this field. And most of them are thanks to the continuous, well-coordinated work 24/7 of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.

Compensation mechanism for

When at the very beginning of a full-scale war I joined the sanctions development group led by diplomat Michael McFaul and head of the Office of President Andrei Yermak, I did not even expect the work to be so intensive and global. I had a successful experience of the case against the Russian Federation at Oschadbank, but here everything turned out to be larger.

At the Ministry of Justice, whose team I joined in May, we began to develop a compensation mechanism, the concept of which was proposed by Markian Klyuchkovsky and Patrick Piersol (Director of the International Claims and Reparations Project of Columbia University School of Law). We analyzed historical experience and proposed a solution based on similar approaches in the payment of compensation after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

But in addition to the development itself, it was important to convince partners - so we held dozens, probably a hundred face-to-face meetings with representatives of different countries, explaining and proving how important it is to launch the processes right now. And if at the end of 2022 we rejoiced at the support of the UN General Assembly, the parliaments of many countries, PACE, NATO, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe Committee, we already have the first practical results - the International Register of Damage begins its work in The Hague.

The launch of this institution is the most important element of the entire mechanism - the entire database will be collected in The Hague, on the basis of which compensation will be paid in the future. Now we expect the partners to confiscate the assets of the Russian Federation abroad and these funds will be filled by the Fund for payments to victims of the aggression of the Russian Federation in Ukraine.

Sanctions and confiscations

One of the most important areas of work throughout the year of the war is the seizure in favor of the state of assets of traitors of Ukraine and citizens of the aggressor country who have found themselves under the sanctions of the RNBO and support the war against our country.

At both the symbolic and practical levels, the most important decision is the return of the assets of the fugitive Yanukovych. But, of course, it's not just about Yanukovych. During the year, it was possible to confiscate the assets of 13 subsanctioned Russians, including the famous oligarch Deripaska, Evtushenkov and Shelkov, who tried to re-register Ukrainian assets for third parties, as well as rectors of Russian universities, deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, members of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation. At the same time, we are talking about both the confiscation of large enterprises and the seizure of real estate, vehicles, luxury goods. And work in this direction will continue. Moreover, we expect similar actions from our partners abroad.

Billions in favor of Oschadbank

An important achievement for Ukraine this year, which I have already mentioned casually, is the progress in the case of Oschadbank against the Russian Federation. The Supreme Court of France overturned the decision of the Court of Appeal of Paris and upheld the decision of the International Arbitration to recover $1.1 billion from Russia in favor of Oschadbank. In addition, before the decision is implemented, interest will be accrued - about 100 thousand US dollars daily.

By the standards of international proceedings, the case was completed quite quickly, although it may seem to uninitiated people that the deadlines are long. I've been dealing with this case for more than 5 years. And it is worth saying that the amount of work was huge - as a result, 30,000 pages were sent to court, which proved the illegality of the expropriation of Oschadbank's investments, which were in Crimea.

Back in 2017, we presented a huge presentation of 600 slides to the Tribunal, consisting of highly qualified judges. Its head, Charles Brauer, is a well-known lawyer who took part in the development of arms reduction agreements between the United States and the USSR. And we managed to convince the eminent experts. The first victory was won in 2018, but then the Russian Federation appealed and the process dragged on. Nevertheless, last year the issue was still resolved in our favor - we will receive all fair compensation for the property of Oschadbank in Crimea.

The value of such a result is important not only for a particular bank - it is a precedent that allows you to move on in similar cases and seek compensation from the Russian Federation for its illegal actions.

The aggressor will be responsible for the crimes

Another important area of work is to seek the responsibility of the Russian Federation for crimes against Ukrainians. At the same time, the question concerns not only the period of full-scale invasion, but all years of the war since 2014.

Now the European Court of Human Rights is considering 4 interstate cases of Ukraine against the Russian Federation: on the issues of Crimea, on the murder of political opponents, on the seizure of Ukrainian sailors and ships in the Kerch Strait, a joint claim with the Netherlands for the downing of a plane in 2014 and violation of human rights in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The other day, the ECHR combined the cases of "Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia" and "Ukraine v. Russia (X)" (submitted in June 2022) regarding a full-scale invasion of one large proceeding.

In January 2023, the ECHR declared the admissibility of the interstate case "Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia" and proceeded to its consideration in fact. After combining these cases, the ECHR will move to the stage of consideration of the case "Ukraine v. Russia (X)," which will speed up its consideration and not only. The merger will ensure a more effective consideration, as some aspects of the two cases are similar and complementary. Murders, abductions, torture, encroachments on private and family life, seizure/destruction of property, discrimination on language, religion, views - all this is part of the official policy of Russia since 2014, which has been continued in the territories of Ukraine, captured by the Russian Federation after February 24, 2022.

Nevertheless, I want to dwell on the January decision of the ECHR in the case "Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia" and its importance. The court established the fact of Russia's occupation of parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and the stay of Russian soldiers in these territories from the very beginning of the war - 2014! The court is ready to consider a systematic violation of human rights in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine. Episodes include kidnappings and attempts to smuggly orphans. In the same case, the downing of flight MH17 is being considered. The next stage is the decision of the Grand Chamber on the merits of the case.

The results in the ECHR will strengthen our country's position in obtaining fair compensation from the Russian Federation. In addition, it will bring citizens of the Russian Federation to justice. It is clear that they will try to avoid such an outcome, but decisions in such cases have no statute of limitations, which means that the aggressor state will still respond sooner or later. And as the dynamics of the year of full-scale war shows, justice will be achieved much earlier than the leadership of the Russian Federation would like.

There is still a lot of work ahead, this is the decision to establish the Special Tribunal, the Compensation Commission, the Compensation Fund. The long-awaited recognition of terrorism by the Russian Federation as a sponsoring state and exclusion from the UN Security Council. By the way, most recently the Yermak-McFol group achieved the suspension of the Russian Federation's membership in the FATF. Continuous work is underway to exclude/restriction the rights of the Russian Federation in various international organizations. We collect documentary base for filing an interstate claim on a bilateral agreement on investment protection. As well as sanctions, sanctions, sanctions...

The past year has shown that we have witnessed transformations in European and world politics. What seemed unreal to us at the beginning of the war is now the results achieved. And there will be even more of them. Yes, the process requires a lot of effort, but changes are happening. Now European partners have approved the compensation mechanism, although at the very beginning they took it carefully.

A similar situation with sovereign immunity - there is a taboo on the confiscation of seized assets of the Russian Federation abroad. However, it can also be overcome. Now it is Ukraine's perseverance on the battlefield and the legal front that makes it possible to change world approaches and create new realities. Obviously, this is not what the aggressor dreamed of a year ago. But that's our reality.