65 members of the Riigikogu voted in favor of passing the amendment – to the Act on Amendments to the International Sanctions Act and Amendments to Other Associated Acts (332 SE) – and 3 were against it.

The president must now promulgate the legislation for it to enter into force.

The act creates a national mechanism to ensure the financial liability of an aggressor state for the damage caused by the most serious violations of international law, the Riigikogu said.

It enables assets of individuals and companies that have contributed to Russia's wrongful acts, which have been frozen under sanctions, as an advance payment for damages owed by Russia to Ukraine.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will decide on the use of the assets as an advance payment for compensation for damage in the course of administrative procedure.

Assets can be used when damage has been caused by a wrongful act and the damage has been proved and must be compensated for under international law.

Additionally, the foreign state that has sustained damage must have submitted a relevant claim to the foreign state that has caused the damage, and the state that has caused the damage has not met the claim within a reasonable period of time.

To launch proceedings on the use of assets in Estonia, a relevant request will have to be submitted to Estonia and the conditions for the use of the assets as an advance payment for compensation for damage and for assigning the right of claim to the owner of the assets will have to be agreed upon with the state that has submitted the request.

In addition, the link between the owner of the assets and the wrongful act must be sufficiently proven. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will also have to determine all the facts and ownership relations relating to the assets.

The owner of the assets will have the right to contest the decision on the use of the assets in administrative court.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna (Eesti 200), during a visit to Georgia, welcomed the news: "Estonia has spearheaded this issue and today, we took a big step towards creating a precedent Europe could follow."

Tsahkna said he hopes the EU can make quick progress on using profits earned from frozen Russian assets to provide vital military aid to Ukraine. 

"However, this should only be the first step in making the aggressor pay for the destruction it has wreaked in Ukraine. We must also move forward with using fixed assets because the majority of Russia's frozen sovereign assets, which are worth €300 billion, are mainly located in Europe," he said.

Chairman of the Constitutional Committee of the Riigikogu Hendrik Johannes Terras (Eesti 200) said creating the legislation was a "complicated challenge".

The Constitutional Committee discussed the regulation in great detail with various parties, including foreign experts, for more than six months, he said.

"Russia is an aggressor state, and the burden of compensating the war damage caused by it cannot be left to Ukraine and its allies. Russia is responsible for causing the damages and must bear that responsibility," the MP said in a statement.

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