Recovery of War Damage in Ukraine - Legal Aspects

Abstract

Recovery of war damage from the Russian Federation presents a number of formidable legal challenges. The Russian Federation is a sovereign state whose assets are shielded by a universally recognized principle of sovereign immunity. Confiscation of private assets of residents and citizens of the Russian Federation is problematic as well because such confiscation would entail the penetration of legal defenses guaranteed to private property worldwide. Our analysis points strongly toward the creation of a post-war international compensation body similar to the UN Compensation Commission for Iraq. Unfortunately, having the Russian Federation on the UN Security Council as a permanent member made it impossible to use the UN Security Council as a founding body for such a commission. Either Russia would have to be removed from the UN Security Council or, alternatively, the compensation body would have to be created outside the United Nations Organization whose ability to perform its statutory functions was compromised for decades.