Estonian Parliament approves use of Russian frozen assets to help Ukraine

This is reported by Postimees.

The adoption of the law was supported by 65 members of the Estonian parliament, while three were against.

The head of the Constitutional Committee, Hendrik Johannes Terras, said that creating legal regulation for the use of frozen Russian funds is a complex task that a number of allied countries and international organizations are working on. According to him, Estonia is playing a pioneering role in this matter.

"Russia is an aggressor country, and compensation for the war damage it has caused cannot be borne by Ukraine and its allies. Russia is responsible for causing the damage, and it must also bear this responsibility," he said.

The head of the Constitutional Committee also noted that in order to ensure responsibility for compensating Ukraine's losses, assets that have already been frozen under international sanctions and whose owners still cannot use or dispose of them can be used.

"With the law adopted today, Estonia proposes a mechanism that provides for the liability of those people and companies that are directly involved in or facilitate the aggression," Johannes Terras added.

According to the law, the assets of individuals and legal entities frozen under sanctions can be used as an advance payment to compensate for the damages owed by Russia to Ukraine.

The decision of the Parliament was welcomed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia, Margus Tsahkna.

"Great news! Our parliament approved with an overwhelming majority a law which will allow using Russia’s #FrozenAssets for #Ukraine! I hope the president will announce it as law as soon as possible," he wrote.

• On May 13, it was reported that Estonia would provide Ukraine with equipment to strengthen its cyberspace as part of an IT coalition. At a meeting in Kyiv, the Ukrainian and Estonian sides discussed further cooperation on the implementation of other projects.