Confiscation Estonian style: legal and political aspects of potential seizure of Russian assets in EU countries

Abstract

The possible confiscation of Russian assets by Western countries is one of the serious challenges to modern international law and the system of international relations. Since the greater part of the frozen assets is under the jurisdiction of EU countries, special attention should be paid to studying mechanisms for the use of Russian assets within the EU. The purpose of this article is to identify the key characteristics of the EU's approaches to the use of frozen Russian assets, determine their compliance with international law and investigate possible consequences for the modern system of international relations. To achieve this goal, the author analysed the legal aspect of this problem, examined the compliance of the initiatives to confiscate Russian property with the norms of modern international law and pinpointed the potential consequences of such actions. It is concluded that possible options for seizing sovereign assets contradict the norms of international and national law. Therefore, all these methods are unfeasible within the current legal framework. Yet, the main obstacle to implementing the plans to seize Russian sovereign assets lies not within the legal realm, but in the political sphere since such actions could result in unforeseeable ramifications. The mechanism proposed by the European Commission for seizing private property within the framework of criminal proceedings implies the use of criminal law to solve political problems, which is at variance with the objectives of criminal policy.