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Russian assets and the war in Ukraine: The central role of the Basha resolution in the Euro-Atlantic agenda
2025-07-14 21:58:57 / POLITIKË
Escalating tensions in relations between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, due to the lack of an agreement on a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, has reignited the international debate on effective ways to force the Kremlin to sit at the negotiating table.
Beyond the military support for Ukraine through arms supplies, there is now a growing consensus, including from President Trump, who approved the supply within the framework of NATO. But another tool of pressure is increasingly coming to the fore: the seized Russian assets that have been in Western countries since the beginning of the war in 2022.
These funds, frozen in Western central banks or other financial institutions, represent a potentially powerful instrument not only to finance Ukraine's post-war reconstruction, but also to support its military resistance.
Turning the Kremlin's frozen assets into a source of financing for the victim of aggression, i.e. Ukraine, would be a historic turning point in international law, with far-reaching political and geostrategic consequences.
In this context, a legal initiative promoted at the Council of Europe by Lulzim Basha, in his role as rapporteur for this institution, has assumed particular importance.
The resolution on the use of Russia's seized assets in favor of Ukraine was unanimously adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and has already become one of the key references in the international debate on this issue.
This resolution has been considered as a legal and political basis for advancing concrete measures at the international level and has been directly mentioned by important political figures in the US.
One of the most vocal voices on this issue is Republican Congressman French Hill, who recently spoke on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” Hill is a strong advocate for using frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, and in the interview he highlighted the role of proposed U.S. legislation and the Council of Europe initiative, calling on both Treasury Secretary Bessent and President Trump to prioritize this approach in the upcoming term.
Excerpt from the interview with Congressman French Hill (CBS, “Face the Nation”):
Reporter: You proposed a bill and gave the president the authority to seize them during the last administration under the repo act. The US has never seized central bank assets from another country before. Do you know if the Treasury Department will do that now?
Hill: Margaret, it's good to be with you. Yes, I certainly worked hard with former Florida Fairgrounds. Chairman Mike McCall and others to include this in our 2024 National Security Package during the Biden administration, because we wanted another arrow in the quiver for the President to not only seize those assets but to turn them over to Ukraine, but we could never get consensus between the United States and Europe to do that despite a unanimous vote of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe supporting it. So I continue to urge President Biden to do that. I took the interest of those frozen assets over to Ukraine. But I think it's time for the President to turn those frozen assets over to a trust account over to Ukraine. I'm glad to hear both Senators Blumenthal and Graham supporting this idea. It's time to do it. And I have encouraged Secretary Besset that this should be a priority for President Trump.
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