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Rebuilding Ukraine Will Be Costly. Here’s How to Make Putin Pay.

Rogue Valley

Lead or get out of the way
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3.30.22
President Joe Biden has vowed to make Russian President Vladimir Putin “pay a very heavy price” for invading Ukraine. The cost thus far has included financial sanctions and possible criminal liability for war crimes, but it should not end there. If Ukraine manages to repel Putin’s army and regain its independence, it will need a massive influx of cash to recover and rebuild. And the international community should make Russia foot the bill. Following Russia’s illegal invasion, the United States has worked with foreign partners to freeze sovereign assets of the Russian government, as well as the personal offshore wealth of Putin and his aides and oligarch enablers. This hoard of riches now includes Russian central bank reserves, private bank accounts, real estate and mega-yachts scattered around the world. Collectively, these frozen assets are valued at hundreds of billions of dollars — a substantial sum that could be used to assist Ukraine. Distributing Russian assets to Ukrainians is politically untenable because it would eliminate one of the few tools the international community has to pressure Russia to call off its military offensive. Equally important, confiscating Russian assets would violate international law. Asset freezes are what international lawyers call “countermeasures” — temporary coercive acts that are designed to compel other states to comply with their international obligations. Permanently confiscating Russia’s assets, as Ustenko and Johnson propose, would constitute an illegal expropriation.

Fortunately, there is another way the United States and its partners can leverage Russia’s frozen wealth to deliver relief to Ukraine: They can refuse to unfreeze these assets until Putin pays reparations. World leaders do not appear to have considered this option. Biden and his advisers have defended international sanctions solely as measures for curbing Russian aggression. Moreover, as soon as Ukraine and Russia reach a deal to end hostilities and resolve their territorial disputes, the deterrence rationale for sanctions will evaporate. If sanctions disappear as soon as the war ends, Russia could evade meaningful accountability. Shifting the focus of international sanctions to reparations would make them more powerful. The United States and its allies should send a clear message: the more damage Russia causes in Ukraine, the more they will expect Russia to pay in reparations as a precondition for lifting sanctions. International sanctions have not deterred Putin’s army from ravaging Ukraine. But if the international community remains patient and united in defending the rule of international law, it could eventually force Putin to pay dearly for his illegal war — by compensating Ukraine with cold, hard cash.


Russian reparations for its illegal war in Ukraine are absolutely necessary, and the international community should not waiver in this demand.

No sanctions relief or the unfreezing of frozen Russian assets until Moscow pays war reparations to Ukraine.
 
Biden will make Russia pay for Ukraine reconstruction the way Trump made Mexico pay for the Wall. I don't see it happening.
 
I am conflicted, this is a very hard way to take, and it is balancing on an edge, with our principals on one side and moral justice on the other. It would be an easier "game" if Putin was removed from power, than the Russians can claim his and the oligarchs’ assets as stolen, but as long as the ones he has stolen from doesn't look at it as stolen (or don't even know it exists) a third-party walking in and taking it as booty...... It is a dangerous road to take
 
I am conflicted, this is a very hard way to take, and it is balancing on an edge, with our principals on one side and moral justice on the other. It would be an easier "game" if Putin was removed from power, than the Russians can claim his and the oligarchs’ assets as stolen, but as long as the ones he has stolen from doesn't look at it as stolen (or don't even know it exists) a third-party walking in and taking it as booty...... It is a dangerous road to take

No one simply "takes it as booty". International law allows for sanctions.

The law says frozen assets cannot be kept frozen forever, but there is no time limit specified.

According to international law then, Russian frozen assets can indeed remain frozen until reparations by Russia are made.
 
No one simply "takes it as booty". International law allows for sanctions.

The law says frozen assets cannot be kept frozen forever, but there is no time limit specified.

According to international law then, Russian frozen assets can indeed remain frozen until reparations by Russia are made.
Yes, but we can't take th assets and pay the reperations with them.
 
Russian reparations for its illegal war in Ukraine are absolutely necessary, and the international community should not waiver in this demand.

No sanctions relief or the unfreezing of frozen Russian assets until Moscow pays war reparations to Ukraine.


Russia will pay reparations. But Russia will have to be defeated first. Only the defeated pay reparations
 
Yes, but we can't take th assets and pay the reperations with them.

That's not what the article said. Why the disinformation on your part?
 
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