Montenegro rules out transfer of frozen assets of Russians to Ukraine
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The Montenegrin authorities will not transfer frozen Russian assets to Ukraine. Such a statement did Head of the Security and Defense Committee of the Assembly (Parliament) of Montenegro Milan Knezevic in an interview with Izvestia.
“I rule out this possibility. This is contrary to the Constitution, Montenegrin laws and EU regulations. This will not happen in Montenegro,” he stressed.
According to Knezevic, 44 properties have been frozen in Montenegro, which belong to 34 Russian citizens who fell under sanctions. Earlier, the deputy appealed to the Constitutional Court of Montenegro with a request to assess the legality of freezing the assets of Russians. Knezevic expressed the hope that the answer would come in a few weeks.
In July 2022, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro informedthat the country has begun to freeze the real estate of Russian citizens as part of the implementation of the sanctions regime. Prior to this, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Montenegro, Filip Adzic, warned that a total of 44 properties would be frozen.
Against the backdrop of a special operation in Ukraine, Western countries imposed large-scale sanctions against the Russian Federation, and also froze Russian assets abroad. In March 2022, Montenegro joined the EU sanctions. At the same time, the country is not a member of the EU, but has the status of a candidate. The authorities promised to carry out their policy towards Russia because of the conflict in Ukraine in full accordance with the actions of the European Union.
In November 2022, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that the West had blocked 300 billion euros in the reserves of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. Then she suggested create an investment fund from these funds, and use the profit for compensation payments to Ukraine.
In the Kremlin called freezing Russian assets by theft. At the end of October last year, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said that the blocking of assets abroad is contrary to international law. He noted that Russia is limited in its actions to combat such a decision, but the Russian authorities will not “sit idly by.”
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