The purpose of this article is a comprehensive analysis of the problems of coercive measures in modern international law and law enforcement practice. It is about sanctions, countermeasures, the sanctions regime, the international legal regime of countermeasures in general, in the context of compensation for damages caused as a result of Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine. Attention is drawn to the actual theoretical and practical aspects of ensuring the international legal regime of countermeasures in the form of the transfer of frozen (blocked) Russian assets to Ukraine in the current and future conditions.

The article points out the urgent need to modernize international law, its sources and institutional mechanisms, in particular, for an example an international responsibility, international criminal law, international humanitarian law, especially the institution of sanctions, countermeasures, and other coercive measures. Countermeasures mainly relate to bilateral relations between states – the victim and the violator, are unilateral actions of the first of them in response to wrongful acts, with the aim of compensating for the damage caused.

It is claimed that in view of Russia’s violation of international legal obligations, obligations erga omnes, legal countermeasures should be taken against it, that allows the use of countermeasures in the form of confiscation of assets. In fact, states should make relevant decisions at the level of governments or parliaments as a legal basis for implementing countermeasures against the Russian Federation, and any state, since all can be considered injured states due to the violation of obligations erga omnes.

Bibliography

Authored books

1. Zoller E, Peacetime Unilateral Remedies: An Analysis of Countermeasures (Transnational Publishers 1984).

2. Crawford J, State Responsibility: The General Part (Cambridge University Press 2013).

3. Kresin O, Rezoliutsii Heneralnoi Asamblei OON: kharakter i znachennia u konteksti viiny RF

proty Ukrainy (Norma prava 2024).

Journal articles

4. Bowett D W, ‘Crimes of State and the 1996 Report of the International Law Commission on State Responsibility’ [1998] 9 (1) European Journal of International Law 163–73.

5. Crawford J, ‘Counter-measures as Interim Measures’ [1994] 5 (1) European Journal of International Law 65–76.

6. Tomuschat C, ‘Are Counter-measures Subject to Prior Recourse to Dispute Settlement Procedures?’ [1994] 5 (1) European Journal of International Law 77–87.

7. Kaminska N, Pozhydaieva M, ‘Pravova pryroda sanktsii ta yikh efektyvnist u protydii rosiiskomu vtorhnenniu’ (2022) 2 Naukovi zapysky Instytutu zakonodavstva Verkhovnoi Rady Ukrainy 59–75. https://doi.org/10.32886/instzak.2022.02.07.

Newspaper articles

8. Carrier A, Lovegrove S, ‘Russian sanctions: European developments in the area of financial services’ (Norton Rose Fulbright, March 2022) <https://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/en/ knowledge/publications/80295646/russian-sanctions-european-developments-in-the-areaof-financial-services> (accessed: 02.04.2023).

9. ‘FATF ne vnesla Rosiiu do chornoho spysku’ (Ukrinform, 26.02.2024) <https://www.ukrinform.ua/rubric-economy/3832326-fatf-ne-vnesla-rosiu-do-cornogo-spisku.html>

(accessed: 01.04.2024).

10. ‘Hotovnist konfiskuvaty zamorozheni rosiiski aktyvy mozhe poperedyty inshi potentsiinikonflikty, – Ivan Horodyskyi’ (Tsentr Dnistrianskoho, 20.02.2024) <https://dc.org.ua/news/gotovnist-konfiskuvaty-zamorozheni-rosiyski-aktyvy-mozhe-poperedyty-inshi-potenciynikonflikty---ivan-gorodyskyy> (accessed: 02.04.2024).

11. Kovalenko O, ‘Kontrzakhody proty Rosii: Zakhid maie pochaty vyplatu Ukraini reparatsii iz konfiskovanykh aktyviv RF – eksperty’ (Radio Svoboda, 21.08.2023) <https://www. radiosvoboda.org/a/viyna-zlochyny-reparatsiyi-rosiyi/32556933.html> (accessed: 02.04.2023).

12. Kosarevych S, ‘Shcho pereshkodzhaie SShA konfiskuvaty rosiiski suverenni aktyvy’ (Tsentr

Dnistrianskoho, 28.12.2022) <https://dc.org.ua/news/so-pereskodzae-ssa-konfiskuvatirosijski-suverenni-aktivi> (accessed: 02.04.2023).

13. Popov A, ‘Aktyvy Putina porakhuiut voseny: koly Ukraina otrymaie zbroiu za rosiiski hroshi’ (Unian, 04.04.2024) <https://www.unian.ua/economics/finance/rosiyski-aktivi-chiotrimaye-ukrajina-zamorozheni-koshti-12594207.html> (accessed: 02.04.2024).

Websites

14. General Assembly Adopts Text Recommending Creation of Register to Document Damages Caused by Russian Federation Aggression against Ukraine, Resuming Emergency Special Session (GA/12470 14 November 2022) https://press.un.org/en/2022/ga12470.doc.htm (accessed: 30.03.2024).