The issue of holding the Russian Federation accountable for the damage caused to us and our state within the framework of the international compensation mechanism is actively developing. In 2024, many important events took place in this regard. The year 2023 ended with the approval of the composition of the Register Board and with its constituent meeting, where the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Board were elected and rules and regulations governing the Board’s functioning were approved. Also, at the meeting there was a discussion of the categories of claims for compensations that will be acceptable for submission to the Register.
Therefore, the Board of the Register began the year 2024 with the adoption of rules and regulations governing the Register’s functioning and with preparation for launching the claims submission process. In particular, there were approved the Rules on conflict of interests and disclosure of information for members of the Register of Damage Caused by the Aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, Rules Governing the Submission, Processing and Recording of Claims (Claims Rules), Categories of claims that can be submitted to the Register, forms and claims submission rules for Category A 3.1. Damage or destruction of residential immovable property.
As announced earlier, submission of claims under Category A 3.1 was opened in April 2024. At the end of the year, the Board of the Register started checking them for compliance with the requirements of the Claims Rules and approved first several hundred claims to be recorded in the Register for further consideration and calculation of compensation. This is the first and so far the only category for which claims are accepted. Thus, this category was used to test the functioning of the register and we hope that access to other categories will be opened much faster. Totally the register lists 45 categories including 2 categories related to damage to the environment and natural resources, namely category B 3.1 Environmental damage and category B 3.2 Depletion or damage to natural resources. In total, claims submission forms and rules for 30 categories were developed and approved in 2024. You can view them at the website of the Register. For the remaining 15 categories, including the two environmental categories mentioned above, the Board of the Register also managed to develop and adopt the forms and submission rules but according to the procedure, they still have to be approved by the Conference of Participants of the Register of Damage. The conference is planned for early 2025 when forms and rules are published on the website.
Unfortunately, throughout 2024, the public did not have the opportunity to submit their proposals regarding the operation of the Register, forms and claims rules, as there was no contact information of the Register available for the public, and drafts of such forms were not made public. However, EPL experts developed and submitted to the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, as the body responsible for launching the Register in Ukraine, their vision regarding requirements to forms and rules for submitting claims under category B 3.1 Environmental damage. The Ministry of Justice informed us that these proposals were submitted to the Register for implementation. Therefore, we are looking forward to the release of the official version in order to find out to what extent our proposals have been taken into account.
Important changes that took place at the end of 2024 include the launch of the Coordination Platform to strengthen cooperation with civil society. On December 16, 2024, the Register of Damage organized the first working meeting of the Civil Society Coordination Platform focused on specifics of the Register’s operation and cooperation issues. You can read more about the meeting results here.
It is important to mention active work on the other two components of the International Compensation Mechanism. In particular, an important step in the launch of the future Compensation Mechanism and ensuring effective and just compensation for damage caused by the Russian aggression against Ukraine was the launch of the Register’s Claims Commission, which is authorized to consider claims submitted to the Register and determine the amount of compensation to be paid in each specific case. In the second half of 2024, the first 3 preparatory meetings were held regarding the creation of such a Commission and the drafting of the Commission’s founding document. The process has not yet entered the negotiation phase, but there is preliminary support for promoting the draft document as a legally binding international treaty. Preparations are already underway for the fourth preparatory meeting scheduled for January 2025, where stakeholders will continue to refine the structure of the Commission. There are also plans to start official negotiations on the conclusion of an agreement on the establishment of the Compensation Commission.
Compensation is impossible without an appropriate Compensation Fund to cover costs of damage caused to Ukraine as a result of the war, which is the third component of the International Compensation Mechanism. Therefore, in 2024, lawyers from many countries of the world worked to develop a mechanism for replenishing the Fund, in particular though confiscation of Russian assets, and also discussed an instrument “that Russia will not be able to appeal or cancel”, which “was quite unexpected for the Russian Federation”, because Russian leaders were sure about their impunity.1
According to preliminary plans, the first decisions on payments will begin to appear no earlier than in two years, and the start of the first payments will depend on what funds will be used to create the Compensation Fund. This was reported by Olena Shulyak, the head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee for the Organization of the State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development and Urban Planning.2
Therefore, in 2025, we expect approval and release of claims forms and rules for the remaining 15 categories including the category B 3.1 Environmental damage, which is most expected by us. We look forward to the opening of the Register for submitting claims for this category. We also hope for fruitful cooperation with the Register within the framework of the Civil Society Coordination Platform.
We continue to follow and, when possible, participate in the process of creating the Compensation Mechanism as a whole and holding the Russian Federation accountable. Follow updates on our website.
