Mayor Of London Wants To Confiscate Property Of Russian Citizens Worth IDR 21.7 Trillion

Mayor Of London Sadiq Khan/DOK PHOTO Via Instagram @sadiq

JAKARTA - The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan urged the British government to confiscate property belonging to Russian nationals suspected of being linked to the Kremlin.

The mayor of London stated that the sale funds from the confiscated property could be used in building housing for Ukrainian refugees.

"I urge the Government to confiscate property assets owned by Putin's (Russian President Vladimir) allies, and make an effective list of property benefits in foreign countries," Khan said in a letter to the Minister of Improvement, Housing and Community Affairs Michael Gove.

"The new analysis by Balai revealed that if 1.1 billion pounds (approximately IDR 21.7 trillion) of property, identified by International Transparency in 2022 as belonging to Russian citizens accused of corruption or links with the Kremlin, it could be sold, it would provide sufficient funds to build more than 4,000 low-cost houses," Khan continued in his letter.

Khan said Britain could use the funds from the sale of the property to provide housing for Ukrainian refugees in London.

Following the start of Russia's special military operations in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Western countries and the European Union imposed comprehensive sanctions on Russia, including freezing nearly half of the country's foreign currency reserves.

Russia has stated that any attempt to confiscate its frozen assets will violate international law.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova last week said the EU's plans to confiscate Russia's central bank assets constitute "an escalation of economic aggression" and warned that Moscow would respond to this in a harsh manner.

Earlier in December last year, the UK Ministry of Finance's Office for the Implementation of Financial Sanctions said that the country had frozen Russian assets worth 22.7 billion pounds (approximately IDR 449.2 trillion) and imposed sanctions on about 90 percent of Russia's banking sector since February 2022.