
In this week’s NLJ, Maria Nizzero writes that ‘policymakers have expressed increased interest in freezing, seizing, but also repurposing the sanctioned assets, including those of the so-called “oligarchs”, for the benefit of Kyiv’.
Nizzero, a research fellow at RUSI’s Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies, points out, however, there are ‘inherent limitations’ in this plan, before setting out some of the complexities, obstacles and potential routes around the obstacles.
She writes: ‘Choosing to prioritise the strengthening of the sanctions regime is not a Sophie’s choice for policymakers: bolstering the response to sanctions evasion now does not imply that permanent confiscation of other Russian sanctioned assets cannot be achieved.’