Since the outbreak of the War on Ukraine, Western countries have swiftly imposed a series of sanctions on Russia, with financial sanctions being the most severe.
These financial sanctions include freezing the overseas assets of Russian oligarchs and enterprises, and notably disconnecting Russia from the SWIFT system, which effectively downgrades all Russian commercial banks to the level of local credit cooperatives. The EU has also compiled a list of 1473 individuals and 206 entities whose funds and economic resources (such as real estate) have been frozen. However, there are still challenges in identifying these assets. EU member states also froze the assets of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (CBR) and prohibited any EU operators from engaging in financial transactions with this entity. Nevertheless, what the long-term impact of these asset freezes?
The key challenge lies in the fact that the CBR’s reserves enjoy the protetion by international customary law, and the confiscation requires the establishment of legal instruments at the international level. In November 2022, motivated by the principle that "Russia must pay for the devastation of Ukraine," the European Commission proposed utilizing Russian assets for reconstruction purposes. The European Commission has recommended designating certain Russian entities as criminal or terrorist organizations in order to seize their assets.Pertinently, the CBR reserves are intricately linked to the conclusion of a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, as well as the subsequent lifting of sanctions. The aforementioned peace agreement should encompass issues such as war reparations and the transfer of funds to Ukraine. However, in light of Russia's overarching policy objective of complete conquest of Ukraine, coupled with its persistent non-compliance with the Minsk agreements, the EU may be compelled to modify the relevant international norms (without necessarily awaiting the conclusion of a peace agreement) and confiscate CBR reserves through international agreements in order to secure adequate funding for reconstruction efforts.
侵烏戰爭一開始，西方各國立即制裁俄羅斯，最嚴厲的是金融制裁，凍結俄羅斯寡頭與企業海外資產不說，特別是將俄羅斯踢出SWIFT，等於所有俄羅斯商業銀行降級地方信用合作社。歐盟也羅列凍結屬於1473人和206個實體的資金和經濟資源（如房地產）。但在識別這些資產方面也有困難。歐盟成員國也凍結俄羅斯聯邦中央銀行(CBR)資產，並禁止任何歐盟運營商與該實體進行金融交易活動。但凍結資產之後呢？
困難點是中央銀行儲備受到國際習慣法等保護，沒收則需要在國際層面建立法源。2022年11月，歐洲聯盟委員會基於「俄羅斯必須為烏克蘭的毀滅付出代價」，提議使用俄羅斯資產來重建。歐盟委員會建議將一些俄羅斯實體認定為犯罪或恐怖組織來沒收。至於CBR儲備與俄烏締結和平協議、解除制裁有關，和平協議要包括戰爭賠款和將資金轉移到烏克蘭等議題。基於俄羅斯的政策目標是完全征服烏克蘭及俄羅斯不遵守〈明斯克協議〉的事實。因此，歐盟（無需等待和平協議）將被迫改變這方面的國際慣例，通過國際協議沒收CBR儲備，以獲得足夠的重建資金。[1]
[1] 王雲程，〈由烏克蘭看台海：從軍事援助到政軍想定〉，許文堂‧陳俐甫主編《台灣對戰爭的想定》，台灣教授協會（台北：2023），p.171
