KYIV, March 8 – Swiss lawmakers on Thursday backed steps aimed at allowing the use of frozen Russian state assets to finance war reparations to Ukraine, France 24 reports.

"The upper house of parliament voted by 21-19 in favor of a series of government-backed motions, with three abstentions. The lower house passed them last year. They pave the way for the government to work on an international legal basis for using frozen aggressor-state assets to pay for reparations in attacked countries. More than $8 billion in Russian central bank reserves and assets are held in Switzerland," the report says.