KARUIZAWA /Japan/, April 18. /TASS/. Russian sovereign assets that are currently in G7 countries’ jurisdictions, will remain immobilized until there is a resolution of the Ukrainian conflict, G7 foreign ministers said in a joint statement passed on Tuesday following their meeting in Japan’s Karuizawa.

"We are determined, consistent with our respective legal systems, that Russia’s sovereign assets in our jurisdictions will remain immobilized until there is a resolution of the conflict that addresses Russia’s violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity," the statement reads. "Any resolution to the conflict must ensure Russia pays for the damage it has caused," G7 foreign ministers noted.

The German newspaper Die Welt reported last week, citing an unpublished European Commission’s (EC) document, that EC experts had come to the conclusion that the frozen assets of the Central Bank of Russia cannot simply be transferred to Ukraine, from a legal point of view, despite the political will of the European leadership, as the legal barriers to such a move are too high. The EC thus proposed investing the Central Bank of Russia’s frozen assets in European government bonds, as well as using the interest to pay Kiev, after the end of the conflict.

According to Die Welt, the European Commission has frozen around €300 bln worth of Russian gold and foreign currency reserves and another €29 bln worth of Russian businessmen’s assets since last spring. However, the EU has failed to confiscate those funds, as there is no such mechanism in the international practice in principle.