When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, many Western nations imposed sanctions against it. One of the most obvious targets for action within Western countries were Russian state assets, on the principle that naked Russian state aggression justified a freezing of Russian state assets that helped the Putin regime perpetuate its illegal war. However, as the war has dragged on, no further solution or punishment beyond keeping these assets in a state of suspended animation has been mooted, and while this has deprived Russia of income, it has done nothing to address what happens next.

One obvious option mooted has been the use of these assets to compensate Ukraine for the economic damage caused by Russia’s invasion. But in order to take this logical step, sequestered Russian assets will need to be transferred to Ukrainian control and this will require laws to be passed and seizure and transfer mechanisms perfected. Is it now therefore time to take action on this issue and what form might this take? Are we able to locate those assets the Russian state has hidden? And might there be other creative uses for confiscated Russian assets that end up punishing the Putin regime for its activities?

Join us to discuss these issues and more with our panel of crusading Ukrainian MP and leader of the Golos Party, Kira Rudik, and leading global human rights campaigner, Bill Browder, creator of the Magnitsky sanctions process.

Bill Browder was the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005, when he was denied entry to the country and declared “a threat to national security” for exposing corruption in Russian state-owned companies. In 2008, Mr. Browder’s lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, uncovered a massive fraud committed by Russian government officials that involved the theft of US $230 million of state taxes. Sergei testified against state officials involved in this fraud and was subsequently arrested, imprisoned without trial and systematically tortured. He spent a year in prison under horrific detention conditions, was repeatedly denied medical treatment, and died in prison on November 16, 2009, leaving behind a wife and two children. Since then, Mr. Browder has sought justice outside of Russia and started a global campaign for governments around the world to impose targeted visa bans and asset freezes on human rights abusers and highly corrupt officials.

Kira Rudik is a Member of Parliament of Ukraine and a First Deputy Chairwoman of the Parliament Committee on Digital Transformation. Kira is also a Leader of Golos Liberal Political Party and a Vice-President of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).

Before politics, Kira Rudik was an IT entrepreneur who headed Ring Ukraine company and ensured its acquisition by Amazon for $1 billion.

She is featured in the TOP-100 most influential women in Ukraine according to the Focus and Novoe Vremya magazines.

In November 2022, Kira received the Women In Politics Champion of the Year Award from The Alliance of Her. In 2020, she was added to the sanctions list of Russia.

Alan Mendoza is a Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Henry Jackson Society, Britain’s leading think tank fighting for the principles and alliances which keep societies free. He directs strategy for the organisation as well as acting as its main public face in mediums as diverse as the BBC, Sky, CNBC, Al-Jazeera, Bloomberg, LBC and TalkRadio. On the print side, Alan is a columnist for City AM, London’s business newspaper, and has contributed to The Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Sun and a host of international newspapers and magazines.

Having obtained a B.A. (Hons.) and M.Phil in history at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, Alan completed a Ph.D. at the same institution. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and is a Westminster City Councillor. He is also a Trustee of the President Reagan Memorial Fund Trust.

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EVENT SUMMARY

The Henry Jackson Society was pleased to welcome the leader of the Golos Liberal Political Party and Member of Parliament in Ukraine, Kira Rudik as well as human rights activist and creator of the Magnitsky Sanctions Process, Bill Browder for a discussion with Dr Alan Mendoza surrounding the potential uses of seized Russian state assets. Regarding the financing of Ukraine’s defence in the face of increasing uncertainty, both speakers agreed that the progressively obvious and pragmatic solution involves the use of the $350 billion worth of seized Russian assets to continue supporting Ukraine. Yet, Rudik and Browder also acknowledged that such optimism is met with a plethora of legal and monetary challenges hence Browder’s call to the UK government to increase transparency surrounding Russian reserves within the Bank of England. Aside from the fiscal challenges governments are facing in supporting Ukraine, Browder also proceeded to address the disastrous repercussions of Donald Trump’s potential return to the US Presidency. He argued that current Russian strategy in Ukraine is predicated upon such an event transpiring and if Trump did return, an “existential crisis” would be unleashed across the European continent. Rudik followed by urging the West to set a precedent in responding to Russian aggression whilst thanking the UK for its role as a “leader” in supplying Ukraine with long range weapons. The discussion concluded with Rudik reiterating that Trump’s “populistic statements” of halting aid to Ukraine would cease to be an issue if Ukraine’s defence was financed directly by seized Russian assets, once again underscoring the importance and urgency foreign governments must pursue this matter with.

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