Calls to Transfer Russian Assets to Compensation Fund for Ukraine
With regard to seized Russian assets, the finance ministers of the G7 in their final communique said: "We reaffirm that, consistent with our respective legal systems, Russia's sovereign assets in our jurisdictions will remain immobilized until Russia ends its aggression and pays for the damage it has caused to Ukraine."
However, an opinion piece appeared in the Toronto
Star on
May 19, co-authored by Irwin Cotler and Sir Bill Browder which
urges the G7 to seize Russian sovereign assets.
Cotler is
the Canadian state's foremost promoter of attempts to conflate
opposition to the
crimes committed by the apartheid state of Israel with
anti-Semitism. He
is the International
Chair of the "Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights," whose
purpose is to promote anti-communism and Zionist characterization
of the European Holocaust, as well as Justin Trudeau's former
Special
Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting
Antisemitism and former Justice Minister
and Attorney General in the Paul Martin Liberal government from
2003 to
2006.
Browder is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Hermitage Capital Management and Head of the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign.[1][2]
In the opinion piece, the co-authors state that Prime Minister Mark Carney's Cabinet "needs to make a history-making decision."
"As G7 host this week, will Canada push to save Ukraine, defend Canada's national security, and strengthen both international law and Canada's international credibility? ... Or will it be complicit in an unprecedented bailout of Russia?"
They then note that July 31 is a "key date staring back at us."
"That's when Europe must vote unanimously to extend Russian sanctions, including a freeze on $300 billion in frozen Russian central bank reserves, $22 billion of which are in Canadian dollars." They then raise the issue that if Hungary or Slovakia "veto an extension, hundreds of billions will go straight back to Russia -- including Canada's share.
"Such an event would see more money sent back to Russia in Canadian funds than Canada has given to Ukraine since 2022."
They then refer to an open letter they both signed, along with some 70 or so others, and say that "The choice is no longer whether to keep the assets frozen or seize them. The choice is for Ukraine's Western allies to immediately confiscate the funds and transfer them to a compensation fund for Ukraine, or send them back to Russia."
"As dire as the alternative is," they say, "transferring Russia's state assets to support Ukraine offers Prime Minister Carney the opportunity to be an immediate international statesman."
Without providing any facts to back them up, they claim that "Over 80 per cent of Canadians support seizing Russia's assets," adding that during the federal election campaign, "both the Conservatives and Liberals announced their support for transferring the frozen assets."
"Seizing Russia's frozen assets is not only legal," they say, "but is financially feasible, strategically sound, morally right" and would set "two important precedents."
They then concoct international law and morality saying:
"The first is that the right to human life and the obligation of states to uphold international peace and security ranks higher than the right for states to enjoy absolute protection of their property without accountability -- no matter how else they might violate international law.
"The second important precedent is that international law can be enforced. Legally, sovereign immunity would normally apply to Russia's state assets -- if it was upholding international law. But under the legal doctrine of countermeasures, Russia forfeits this immunity so long as it's grossly violating international law."
The very same forces that support the genocide of the Palestinian people and the expansion of NATO to threaten Russia's right to security under international law and support the rehabilitation of the current admirers of Nazi sympathizers and collaborators in Ukraine are preaching about morality and international law. They say:
"Enforcing countermeasures allows us to send a message that we will take international law seriously. Failing to do so sends the message that we will uphold it only when it's easy."
The authors conclude that "Canada's tradition is to do what is right internationally, even when it isn't easy. Compared to the challenges this country has faced, the question of whether to support seizing Russia's assets is simple."
Notes
1. Hermitage Capital Management is described by the World Economic Forum as "an asset management firm specializing in global emerging markets. It has over $1.5 billion under management, including Hermitage Global, a global activist fund, launched in 2007, and the Hermitage Fund, one of the largest Russia-dedicated investment funds in the world. Its clients include high net worth individuals, financial institutions and fund of funds from over 30 countries. It aims to increase the value of its investments through shareholder activism targeted to improve corporate governance."
2. The Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign, on its website explains that "William Browder, Founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, was the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005, when he was denied entry to the country and declared 'a threat to national security.' [...]
"Since then, Mr. Browder has been leading the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign which seeks to impose targeted visa bans and asset freezes on human rights abusers and highly corrupt officials.
"The United States was the first to impose these targeted sanctions with the passage of the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act in 2012 which solely targets Russian nationals. This was then followed by the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act in 2016 which allows the U.S. government to sanction foreigners implicated in human rights abuses anywhere in the world.
"Since then, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Baltic states, the European Union and Australia have passed their own versions of the Magnitsky Act. Mr. Browder is currently working to have similar legislation passed in other countries worldwide including in New Zealand and Japan."
This article was published in
Volume 55 Number 6 - June 2025
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2025/Articles/M5500610.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca