KIEV, March 17 (RIA Novosti) – Ukraine is set to lay a claim to property of the Soviet Union, including about $80 billion deposited on the accounts of the USSR State Bank, Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko said on Thursday.
Petrenko said that Ukraine did not sign the December 9, 1994 agreement which recognized Russia as the successor state of the Soviet Union and its government has legal grounds to claim ownership of certain Soviet property located in third states.
Kiev also plans to lay claim to about $80 billion deposited on accounts of the USSR State Bank, the only bank in the Soviet Union.
The Russian Foreign Ministry replied that it was ready to negotiate the Soviet heritage issue with Kiev, but said that in this case Ukraine will also have to undertake financial responsibility for the Soviet debt.
The ministry estimates that Ukraine will have to pay about $20 billion in Soviet-era debts.
