Constancy of the property rights and the seizure of assets and corporate rights of russian companies: legal regulation in Ukraine and the experience of EU countries

Abstract

In the process of modern state-building processes, the European integration of Ukraine, as well as negative phenomena unfolding as a result of Russia’s armed aggression, the right to property, as one of the fundamental constitutional rights, is subject to restrictions and transformation. Constitutional scholars agree on the priority of improving the system of guaranteeing the inviolability of property rights, taking into account the balance of national interests. The article analyses the legal novelty of the seizure of assets and corporate rights of Russian companies and natural persons in Ukraine through the prism of the institute of the property rights in national law and the system of international human rights law. The general shortcomings of the existing legal construction are examined, as well as the existing practice of its application as a practical measure.
 The purpose of the research is to clarify the content of the guarantee (principle) of the inviolability of property rights, as they are enshrined in the Basic Laws of Ukraine, Poland and Germany. The methodological basis of the research consists of general and special legal methods of scientific knowledge, namely: system-structural method, comparison method and logical-legal method. The results. The article analyzes the constitutional guarantees of the inviolability of property rights on the example of Ukraine and EU countries. It was established that the provisions of the Basic Laws, which establish standards in the field of property rights, have a heterogeneous and unsystematized presentation. The structure of “seizure” of corporate rights is compared with the criminal seizure of property and the civil construction of alienation of property rights. Based on the practice of the European countries and USA in the potential seizure of assets of Russian oligarchs, it is proposed to replace the existing mechanism, with the criminalization of the violation of the sanction regime imposed on Russian assets within Ukraine, with simultaneous introduction of the institution of urgent use of property for socially significant purposes, which will allow it to be used today, in order to ensure the use of the property for public purposes, and will confirm the determination of the Ukrainian people in the course of building a European, legal state, which comply with fundamental human rights, is determined to the principle of rule of law, legality, and will ensure its contribution in increasing the country’s image and investment attractiveness.