X

On the confiscation and use of frozen Russian assets

On the confiscation and use of frozen Russian assets

Letter issued Motu Proprio by Mahat Cerasuolo,
President of the People of Mother Earth – PMT –


To the International Community,

By virtue of the irrevocable duty incumbent upon the People of Mother Earth to uphold and safeguard the international legal order — founded on the supreme principles of peace, state sovereignty, equity, justice among nations, and the protection of minorities — I hereby solemnly express formal opposition to the initiative recently announced by institutions of the European Union and certain of its Member States, concerning the use of frozen assets belonging to the Russian Federation for the purchase of weaponry intended for use in the ongoing conflict on Ukrainian soil, or in other operations directed against the Russian Federation, or in any case for the procurement of military equipment.

It must be recalled with due rigour that the military operation undertaken by the Russian Federation was publicly declared as a protective measure for the Russian-speaking communities residing in Ukraine — communities whose suffering, discrimination, and persecution had long since been the subject of formal complaints brought before the international community. The developments leading to such intervention unfolded in a context marked by the emergence of a Ukrainian regime following a coup d’état, heavily influenced by external actors, notably the United States and the United Kingdom, and by the systemic marginalisation of Russian-speaking populations through repression and territorial militarisation.

The negligence of international bodies and of the States entrusted with the guardianship of the Charter of the United Nations, in failing to act in defence of linguistic and cultural minorities in Ukraine, has contributed to the emergence of a crisis now unilaterally portrayed as aggression — obscuring prior responsibilities and ignoring binding international obligations regarding the protection of populations.

In this complex framework, the sanctions adopted by the European Union since 2014 and reinforced in 2022 are based on specific legal instruments:

  • Council Regulation (EU) No. 269/2014, which imposes the freezing of assets and economic resources of individuals and entities deemed responsible for undermining Ukraine’s territorial integrity;

  • Council Regulation (EU) 2022/263, which extends these measures in response to the Russian intervention in separatist regions.

These instruments explicitly provide for the freezing, and not the confiscation, of assets. Legal ownership remains with the sanctioned party. Freezing, as a precautionary measure of an economic-financial nature, cannot be transformed into a means of financing military activity, lest it constitute a breach of fundamental principles of international law.

The course of action proposed by the European Union and certain of its Member States — namely, the permanent use of these assets for the acquisition and supply of weapons intended to be deployed against the State to which those assets belong — constitutes a serious violation of:

  1. The principle of sovereign immunity, enshrined in the United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property (2004), Article 21(1)(c);

  2. The provisions of the Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts (ARSIWA), particularly Articles 49–54, which govern countermeasures, requiring that they be temporary, proportionate, reversible, and exclusively aimed at restoring legality;

  3. The prohibition on the use of force, as laid down in Article 2(4) of the Charter of the United Nations, which also covers indirect use through coercive economic instruments;

  4. The principles of legality and good faith, which undergird the entire structure of international law;

  5. The principle of State property rights, which forbids arbitrary appropriation of public assets of a sovereign State;

  6. The principle of minority protection and prevention of persecution, both essential to any international community grounded in law and justice;

  7. The legal distinction between asset freezing (a containment measure) and confiscation (an appropriation requiring a recognised legal title or judicial decision).

It must be emphasised that the attempt to transfer ownership of frozen assets for military purposes constitutes not only a fraud upon property rights, but also a form of disguised economic warfare, with destabilising consequences for the entire global legal and financial system. Such conduct is incompatible with prevailing jurisprudence and United Nations practice, which does not endorse permanent confiscation of State assets except by virtue of a multilateral agreement or an international judicial decision.

The People of Mother Earth, acting in the name of peace, justice, and historical truth, hereby call upon the international community to:

  • Reject any initiative involving the use of frozen assets for military purposes;

  • Initiate an international legal inquiry into the origins, legitimacy, and consequences of the coercive measures adopted;

  • Safeguard the sovereign immunity of public property and central banks of third States;

  • Reactivate multilateral dialogue mechanisms for the peaceful resolution of the crisis in Ukraine;

  • Suspend the enforcement of any measure that would effect the irrevocable transfer of frozen assets for military ends.

This Letter constitutes an urgent appeal to the juridical conscience of the world, for the proposed course of action — if implemented — would amount to multiple violations of international law, a threat to global stability, and an irreversible precedent in the conduct of inter-State relations.

May peace, legality, and the respect for historical truth prevail over propaganda, over the arbitrary use of law, and over militaristic self-interest. The People of Mother Earth stand as a juridical sentinel of the international community and firmly demand: justice, truth, legality.

 

Neptune – Rome
29 October 2025
President of the People of Mother Earth
Mahat Cerasuolo

Popolo della Madre Terra
Il nostro è uno stato auto determinato, con un governo presidenziale, e un consiglio Ministeriale composto da uomini e donne coscienti, uniti sulle basi delle antiche identità ancestrali del nostro territorio, la Penisola Italica, della Madre Terra tutta.
Contatti
E-mail: segreteria@popolodellamadreterra.org
Social
Newsletter
Iscrivitti alla newsletter
per rimanere sempre aggiornato
sulle iniziative ed eventi del Popolo della Madre Terra
 
 
 
Copyright © 2022 - Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy
Realizzato da Giap Informatica