Ministers should confiscate the mansions, country estates and UK assets of Russian oligarchs to help pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine, a senior adviser in President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office said this weekend.
Vladyslav Vlasiuk, a sanctions expert working in the presidential office, said Ukraine’s government would like the UK to follow Canada in implementing new regulations that allow authorities to seize and redistribute assets belonging to sanctioned individuals and entities.
He said Russia should pay the hundreds of billions of dollars needed for reconstruction, rather than taxpayers in western countries. The UK government said in March it had frozen more than £18bn in Russian assets and was considering seizing them.
“It must be Russia which is held accountable and must pay,” said Vlasiuk. “Assets which are here in the UK and other jurisdictions are easily accessible. We would like to see those confiscated and sent to Ukraine for reconstruction.”
Vlasiuk spoke to the Observer as ministers and officials prepare to host governments, business leaders and non-governmental organisations in London this week for a Ukraine recovery conference.
The estimated cost of reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine is now more than $400bn, with the costs on a similar scale to the Marshall plan, the US-sponsored programme to support the economic recovery of Europe after the second world war.
Vlasiuk said seizing assets would present legal problems but he thought they could be surmounted. “It’s absolutely justified to make Russia pay for the damages in Ukraine,” he said. “It will be a good lesson for other dictators. If you violate international law and order, you have to pay for it.
“This is not just about the war in Ukraine, it is about the world order. If there is a state which thinks it can do want it wants, it has to be punished. It has to be a lesson for other countries.”
He said the wealth of the oligarchy was closely linked to the Russian state, and seizures were justified. “You could not become rich if you did not support Putin,” he said.
Canada made amendments to its laws to permit governmental authorities to seize, forfeit, dispose and redistribute assets belonging to sanctioned individuals and entities.
The EU proposed new rules last month under which assets could be confiscated for sanctions evasion. The US attorney general, Merrick Garland, also authorised the first transfer of forfeited Russian assets for use in Ukraine last month in a case linked to sanctions violations.
The G7 countries said in a statement last month that they would continue their effort to ensure Russia paid for the long-term reconstruction of Russia. “We expect the Ukraine recovery conference to reinforce momentum behind Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction,” it said.
Vlasiuk said Ukraine wanted the UK and other countries to widen the sanctions against the oligarchy, propagandists and Russian state. He said the UK government had recently been provided with a list of about 20 business people and propagandists whom the Ukraine government thought should be sanctioned. It also wants more Russian banks added to the sanctions list.
The Observer understands that Ukrainian intelligence reports suggest the rate of production of Russian missiles has doubled in recent months. Ukraine has given the UK government the names of six Russian firms and research institutes involved in missile production which it says have not yet been sanctioned.
There is concern that Russian missiles systems continue to benefit from components from firms in the US, Europe and east Asia. Ukraine wants better enforcement of sanctions and tighter export controls.
Vlasiuk said there were also concerns about legal firms in the UK advising Russian firms on avoiding sanctions. He said sources indicated the Russian companies were contracting the services through an affiliated entity based in another country.
“London is full of smart lawyers and some of them work for the Russians on avoiding sanctions,” he said. He said the work might be legally permissible, but was unethical.
The UK government has already allocated about £2.3bn of proceeds from the sale of Chelsea football club to humanitarian causes in Ukraine and the “long-term recovery”, with the agreement of former owner Roman Abramovich. The money is still frozen more than a year after the sale because of delays in approving the transfer of funds.
The Ukraine recovery conference will be held jointly by the UK government and Ukraine. It will focus on building international support for Ukraine’s recovery from the effects of war, and private sector involvement in reconstruction.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “The government is actively considering all possible options for seizing Russian-linked assets in the UK that could be used to remedy the harms caused in Ukraine.
“We are committed to ensuring, consistent with our legal systems, that Russia has no access to any of these assets until it ends its violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
