Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia, about $400 billion of Russian assets have been frozen in the world, but only about $600 million have been confiscated so far (this is approximately 0.001% of the total amount of losses from the war)

The Institute of Legislative Ideas has developed the Confiscation Tracker, an interactive website that displays up-to-date information on the amounts, legislation, court decisions, and political position of countries on the confiscation of Russian assets.

The tracker illustrates data from all over the world: collected from open sources and databases and verified by embassies of different countries. The website also provides concise answers to complex legal questions. Based on the collected information and legal expertise, we have analyzed and explained whether Ukraine and the world can systematically and on a large scale confiscate Russian assets, the complexity of legal mechanisms, the pitfalls and political discourses, as well as who and how is already applying the relevant procedures and what to expect in the near future.

Since 24 February 2022, about $300 billion of sovereign (state) assets of the Russian Federation have been frozen worldwide, as well as about $100 billion of private assets (these are the funds of those responsible for the war - politicians, oligarchs, propagandists). The exact amount of blocked assets around the world is unknown.

During the year of the war, there was only one case of confiscation abroad with the subsequent transfer of confiscated funds to Ukraine (USA), but so far it is only about 0.0000077% of the total amount of losses from the war. Moreover, some countries have already publicly rejected this idea, such as Switzerland, which has many Russian accounts in its banks.

As of February 2023, a study on asset confiscation in the world may indicate the following:

• Ukraine's key overseas partners, the United States, and Canada, have already begun to take concrete steps to confiscate Russian assets for further transfer to Ukraine. The European Union and the United Kingdom are actively developing mechanisms for such confiscation at the legislative level.
• Unlike freezing, which is carried out rather quickly and in batches (for entire groups and categories of persons and assets), confiscation is of a targeted nature.
• The freezing of assets, as the example of Belgium shows, is already reversible, unlike confiscation (which is being stopped by many countries).
• The two main tools that have been used to confiscate Russian assets today are confiscation for violation of the sanctions regime and civil confiscation (without a court conviction). Ukraine and its partners should concentrate their efforts on these.
• Given the amount of Russian assets located abroad, it should be understood that this is a significant financial resource that can be used to rebuild Ukraine. At the same time, it is also a powerful lever of influence on those who continue to finance the war with their money.