LONDON, July 10. /TASS/. Russia’s embassy to the United Kingdom said on Sunday Ukraine’s potential claims on Russian real estate in London are groundless.

"As the only successor to the former Soviet Union, Russia received the rights to the Soviet property abroad and, unlike Ukraine, it has repaid all Soviet debts. Ukraine’s claims have no grounds in terms of international law," the embassy told TASS. "Moreover, the premises of diplomatic missions and houses of the embassy employees are protected by the principle of diplomatic immunity. We think that Great Britain is committed to its liabilities and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, like Russia is committed to its [liabilities] in respect of the British embassy in Moscow."

The Times said earlier that Ukraine may lay claims in respect of 17 real estate assets in London, including the buildings of Russia’s military attache and trade missions, and the Seacox Heath in Kent, which was presented to the former Soviet Union in 1947.

Ukraine’s Ambassador to the UK Vadim Pristaiko told the newspaper that he was hiring a lawyer to file such a suit. He said he hopes the court’s ruling was in Ukraine’s favor and Moscow would be obliged to sell its real estate and transfer part of the revenues to Ukraine, which will use the money for the needs of its army. Moreover, he called on Ukrainian ambassador to other countries to follow his lead.

Kiev has already made attempts to get this property, saying that Soviet property abroad had not been divided proportionally between the former Soviet republic after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Times estimates these buildings at a minimum of 100 million pounds (more than 120 million US dollars).

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in response to a request for help by the heads of the Donbass republics. He stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, but aimed to demilitarize and denazify the country. After that, the West began to impose large-scale sanctions on Russia and intensify weapons supplies to Ukraine.