More than $100 billion withdrawn from Ukraine: how to get it back

More than $100 billion has been transferred from Ukraine abroad since the country's independence.

These figures were released by Olena Duma, Head of the National Agency for Finding, Tracing and Management of Assets (ARMA).

She noted that in order to recover such assets, the agency developed and approved a procedure for the sale of seized assets abroad in July 2023.

However, ARMA cannot choose the buyer on its own in this case, but is obliged to create a tender commission with the participation of representatives of the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Justice, who will select the organizer of the auction based on eight criteria.

Ms. Duma also explained that the experience of selling similar assets is taken into account: for yachts, it can be a global auction house, for real estate, a real estate agency, and for works of art, specialized platforms.

Recently, the Dniprovsky District Court of Kyiv allowed the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA) to sell the Russian tanker Nika Spirit. Earlier, the court had transferred this asset to ARMA for management, but during the war, ARMA sees it expedient to focus on the sale of expensive seized assets, such as the Nika Spirit tanker, instead of looking for managers.

Also recently, the USKO MFU, a Cameroon-flagged bulk carrier, was confiscated in Odesa region. The reason was illegal entry into the ports of the temporarily occupied Crimea. The court decided to transfer it to state ownership.

In August, the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA) also announced the selection of a manager for the confiscated dry cargo ship EMMAKRIS III. The vessel is moored at one of the berths in the port of Chornomorsk in Odesa region.

Earlier, ARMA sold the first seized asset - 1.2 thousand tons of grain were sold for UAH 4.9 million. This is the grain seized in Mykolaiv.