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Estonia will be the first country in the EU to transfer frozen Russian assets to Ukraine. The government of Estonia plans to be the first country in the EU to develop a mechanism to transfer frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine. Currently, two ministries are preparing legal grounds to take this step, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the country, Urmas Reinsalu, said. He added that the process for transferring frozen Russian assets to Ukraine is generally not progressing in the EU. The governments of the EU instructed the European Commission to develop the legal scheme necessary for this, but there is still no consensus on this issue. With this in mind, Estonia decided to create a legal structure on its own to allow the frozen Russian assets to be put to use. This may become a precedent from the point of view of international law.
The EIB needs financial guarantees to increase support for Ukraine.
Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian aggression, the European Investment Bank (EIB) has decided to continue supporting Ukraine and allocate new funds without waiting for the end of the war. “However, to increase the amount of the bank's support, we need financial guarantees,” said EIB President Werner Hoyer in Davos. He explained that thanks to bank financing in Ukraine, bridges destroyed by Russian troops are being restored because they are needed to preserve the economy. According to the president of the EIB, in the case of international financial organizations, it is worth talking about guarantees from European countries to share war-related risks rather than capital infusion.
The EU is considering transferring profits from the management of frozen Russian assets. The European Union wants to analyze the idea of managing the Russian Central Bank's frozen assets ($300B), the profit from which would be applied to Ukraine’s reconstruction. The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, expects a certain impetus in the discussions from the EU leaders. He added that despite legal obstacles to asset seizure, there is a strong political interest in making progress on the issue and getting it done. At the end of last year, the European Commission proposed sending the Russian state's frozen assets to a fund where they could be actively managed to obtain a return that would help in Ukraine’s reconstruction. Currently, the EC is trying to confiscate the assets of Russian oligarchs who are under sanctions.
6.1.4 Budget dynamics - privatisation
Top lawyer wanted for organising fraudulent scheme to sell property seized by state. Investigators obtained evidence that Andriy Dovbenko had headed a criminal group of four people accused of the embezzlement of property transferred to the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA).
A Ukrainian seaport was privatized for triple the starting price. The Ust-Dunaisk seaport was sold at auction on Tuesday, January 17, for UAH 201M ($5.5M). The privatization of a seaport took place for the first time in the history of Ukraine, reported the State Property Fund. The FSMU emphasized that the final offer for the port exceeded the starting price of UAH 60M by 3.3 times due to the high competition among eight entrepreneurs who wanted to purchase the port. Currently, the port is operating at only 5% of its capacity. From January-September 2022, Ust-Dunaisk generated UAH 848,000 in net
35 UKRAINE Country Report February 2023 www.intellinews.com