US, Canada, Japan Join European Push to Catalog Ukraine Damage
(Bloomberg) -- The US, Canada and Japan have signed up to a European initiative to create a register to document the damage inflicted on Ukraine by Russia’s invasion.
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The register, which leaders agreed on at a Council of Europe summit in Reykjavik, is meant to be a first step toward a mechanism to force the Kremlin to pay compensation for the destruction its forces have wrought during the war.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US permanent representative to the United Nations, said the administration in Washington, working with Congress, will provide “initial voluntary funding” to support the register.
“Russia’s damages must be documented so that those responsible are held accountable,” Thomas-Greenfield said Wednesday in a speech to the gathering in the Icelandic capital. “And so that the world sees what responsible nations do.”
Russian missiles and artillery have rained on Ukraine since the war began in February last year, with Kremlin forces attacking civilian and energy infrastructure as well as military targets.
According to an estimate from the World Bank, the European Commission, the United Nations and the government in Kyiv published in March, the cost of reconstruction in Ukraine already swelled to $411 billion during the first year of conflict alone. That amount would be needed over a 10-year period and would have to combine public and private funds.
Speaking at a news conference after attending the summit, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz poured cold water on the idea of using frozen Russian assets to pay for reconstruction in Ukraine.
Seizing the assets on a permanent basis is problematic due to legal issues, while using proceeds from managing them is on the table but is not expected to yield much money, Scholz told reporters.
“The big question, how can the damage in Ukraine be paid for, how can those responsible be brought to justice, that’s also a question that has to be solved in the peace order that comes after this war,” Scholz said.
The Council of Europe — a group founded in 1949 to promote democracy and human rights that now includes 46 nations — is attempting a reset following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Kremlin forces last year.
The Council expelled Russia and suspended all relations with Belarus, which wasn’t a member, due to its active support for the war.
Headquartered in Strasbourg, France, its structure incorporates the European Court of Human Rights and its members include all 27 European Union nations plus countries like Turkey, the UK and Ukraine. The US, Canada and Japan are among so-called observer states.
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