Ukrainian authorities seized Russian and Belarusian assets worth nearly $2 billion

The total amount of Russian and Belarusian assets arrested in Ukraine has reached almost $2 billion, Ukrainian Minister Oleg Nemchinov said on the air of the Rada TV channel.

“Including those assets that are managed by the National Agency of Ukraine for the identification, search and management of assets, this is more than 70 billion hryvnias ($1.9 billion)”, – said he (TASS quote).

In particular, the minister clarified that the Demurinsky mining and processing plant, the assets of three banks and businessman Oleg Deripaska, as well as vehicles, aircraft, 3,500 residential and 4,000 non-residential properties were arrested or confiscated.

According to him, a number of assets are transferred to the army and law enforcement agencies, the other part to the State Property Fund. Biofuels and ammonia, for example, are put up for auction. The funds received as a result of the auction are invested in bonds, Nemchinov added, at the expense of which military spending is financed. The minister lamented that the process of confiscation is slow, because in Ukraine they want to comply with the legal order, fearing that after the special operation, the owners of the assets will go to court.

On March 10, 2022, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law on the forced seizure of property of the Russian Federation and its residents. In accordance with the provisions of the law, the forced seizure of objects of Russian property will be carried out without any compensation for its value.

In July 2022, the country’s Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova informedthat the total amount of the assets of Russia and its citizens arrested in Ukraine at that time reached 33 billion rubles. In October, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine informed on the arrest of 44 billion hryvnias of Russian and Belarusian assets.