Challenges in Seizing Russian Assets for EU and Ukraine
Russia has seized around 1,000 businesses in Ukraine's annexed regions, including agricultural holdings, mining companies, factories, food processing plants, markets, pharmacy chains, and malls. Most of the companies' new owners are Russian citizens, and many Russians have opened new manufacturing facilities or expanded their pre-existing ones in Ukraine's annexed territories. The owners are most often from Moscow, the Rostov region, and Crimea. Novaya Gazeta Europe noted that only 260 of the roughly 1,000 companies newly registered in Russia have owners indicated in their records, primarily due to business owners wanting to evade international sanctions. Ukrainian businessmen from the annexed territories have been recording their property losses as part of ongoing criminal cases, and the owners of the largest companies have even filed suits at the European Court of Human Rights.