Nobel laureates' joint appeal for transfer of Russian sanctioned state assets for Ukraine's recovery and compensation

As of 24 February 2025, the unlawful war of aggression waged by the Russian Federation  against Ukraine WILL mark THE END OF ITS sad third anniversary, and will be entering its  fourth year. The fighting has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers and left many  severely wounded on both sides. However, it also directly targets the Ukrainian civilian popu lation — families and their children — who have endured immeasurable suffering. Thousands  of civilians, including children, have been killed, are under occupation, have been imprisoned  or forcefully deported to Russia. The destruction of entire neighborhoods and cities, along with  despicable attacks on critical infrastructure such as hospitals, schools and kindergartens, has  forced countless people to flee, violently robbed of their homes and livelihoods. Russian war on  Ukraine caused the biggest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II, with millions of civilians  displaced internally and outside of Ukraine. People and families have experienced unimaginable  pain, loss, and hardship. 

Following the change of power resulting from the U.S. presidential election, promises  and calls for negotiations and peace agreements are growing louder. Hope may rise that this  relentless war may come to an end through fair peace talks. Yet even if that happens, Ukraine  remains a country devastated in many areas. The dead cannot be brought back, and the suffe ring endured in the past cannot be undone. But the future can and must be better. 

The reconstruction of Ukraine and compensation of war victims will require substan tial financial resources. And who, if not the perpetrator of this unlawful war, should  bear responsibility for restitution? 

In total, there is currently a worldwide capital of the Russian Central Bank of an estimated  EUR 300 billion frozen as a result of sanctions. This amount is held in accounts worldwide, but  mainly in the EU and G7 countries, namely Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan,  United States and the United Kingdom. This money continues to generate additional billions  through interest. However, the interest alone will not cover the estimated app. USD 486 billion in  recovery costs, nor the compensation owed to victims of Russia’s war — only using the principal  of the EUR 300 billion will.  

We, the Nobel Laureates who have signed this appeal, call on these governments to release  these funds from the Russian Central Bank to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine and  compensation of war victims so that the country can be rapidly rebuilt after a peace agreement  is reached. This might require new regulations and laws, which, given the undeniable emergency  and gross violations of international law, are appropriate and must be amended. The goal is to  end the war, establish a just peace, and provide Ukraine with a future perspective for genera tions to come. We stand by this cause with our voices. 

Signed in Partnership the voice of  nobel laureates

Peace

Belo, Carlos Filipe Ximenes (1996)
Ebadi, Shirin (2003)
Gbowee, Leymah Roberta (2011)
Matviichuk, Oleksandra (2022)
Sanchez, Oscar Arias (1987)
Walesa, Lech (1983)
Williams, Jody (1997)

Literature 

Jelinek, Elfriede (2004)
Modiano, Patrick (2014)
Muller, Herta (2009)
Pamuk, Orhan (2006)
Soyinka, Wole (1986)

Economics

Acemoglu, Daron (2024)
Diamond, Peter A. (2010)
Hart, Sir Oliver (2016)
Heckman, James J. (2000)
Johnson, Simon (2024)
Kydland, Finn E. (2004)
Maskin, Eric S. (2007)
Myerson, Roger B. (2007)
Phelps, Edmund S. (2006)
Pissarides, Christopher A. (2010)
Roth, Alvin E. (2012)
Smith, Vernon L. (2002)
Stiglitz, Joseph E. (2001)

Chemistry

Agre, Peter (2003)
Bawendi, Moungi G. (2023)
Charpentier, Emmanuelle (2020)
Ciechanover, Aaron (2004)
Corey, Elias James (1990)
Deisenhofer, Johann (1988)
Doudna, Jennifer A. (2020)
Ertl, Gerhard (2007)
Feringa, Bernard L. (2016)
Frank, Joachim (2017)
Heeger, Alan (2000)
Henderson, Richard (2017)
Hoffmann, Roald (1981)
Huber, Robert (1988)
Kobilka, Brian K. (2012)
Kornberg, Roger D. (2006)
Lee, Yuan T. (1986)
Lefkowitz, Robert J. (2012)
Lehn, Jean-Marie (1987)
Levitt, Michael (2013)
List, Benjamin (2021)
MacKinnon, Roderick (2003)
MacMillan, David W. C. (2021)
Meldal, Morten (2022)
Modrich, Paul L. (2015)
Moerner, William E. (2014)
Polanyi, John C. (1986)
Ramakrishnan, Venkatraman (2009)
Sauvage, Jean-Pierre (2016)
Schrock, Richard R. (2005)
Whittingham, Sir M. Stanley (2019)
Yonath, Ada E. (2009)

Medicine

Alter, Harvey J. (2020)
Ambros, Victor (2024)
Baltimore, David (1975)
Bishop, J. Michael (1989)
Campbell, William C. (2015)
Capecchi, Mario R. (2007)
Doherty, Peter C. (1996)
Greider, Carol W. (2009)
Hall, Jeffrey Connor (2017)
Hoffmann, Jules A. (2011)
Horvitz, H. Robert (2002)
Houghton, Sir Michael A. (2020)
Hunt, Tim (2001)
Ignarro, Louis J. (1998)
Kandel, Eric R. (2000)
Marshall, Barry J. (2005)
Mello, Craig C. (2006)
Moser, Edvard (2014)
Moser, May-Britt (2014)
Nusslein-Volhard, Christiane (1995)
O’ Keefe, John (2014)
Patapoutian, Ardem (2021)
Prusiner, Stanley B. (1997)
Ratcliffe, Sir Peter J. (2019)
Rice, Charles M. (2020)
Roberts, Sir Richard J. (1993)
Rosbash, Michael (2017)
Sakmann, Bert (1991)
Schekman, Randy W. (2013)
Semenza, Gregg L. (2019)
Sharp, Phillip A. (1993)
Szostak, Jack W. (2009)
Tonegawa, Susumu (1987)
Varmus, Harold E. (1989)
Weissman, Drew (2023)
Wieschaus, Eric F. (1995)
Wiesel, Torsten N. (1981)

Physics

Agostini, Pierre (2023)
Amano, Hiroshi (2014)
Aspect, Alain (2022)
Barish, Barry Clark (2017)
Bednorz, J. Georg (1987)
Binnig, Gerd (1986)
Chu, Steven (1997)
Englert, Francois (2013)
Fert, Albert (2007)
Friedman, Jerome I. (1990)
Genzel, Reinhard (2020)
Glashow, Sheldon (1979)
Gross, David J. (2004)
Haroche, Serge (2012)
Hinton, Geoffrey E. (2024)
Hooft, Gerardus ’t (1999)
Josephson, Brian D. (1973)
Kajita, Takaaki (2015)
Ketterle, Wolfgang (2001)
Krausz, Ferenc (2023)
L’ Huillier, Anne (2023)
Mather, John C. (2006)
Mayor, Michel (2019)
Mourou, Gerard (2018)
Peebles, James (2019)
Penrose, Roger (2020)
Phillips, William D. (1997)
Politzer, H. David (2004)
Strickland, Donna (2018)
Taylor Jr., Joseph H. (1993)
Thorne, Kip Stephen (2017)
Tsui, Daniel C. (1998)
Weiss, Rainer (2017)
Wilson, Robert Woodrow (1978)
Wineland, David J. (2012)