Russia warned Western countries on Tuesday that its response would be very harsh if the United States and the European Union confiscated Russian assets worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
The United States and its allies banned transactions with the Russian Central Bank and the Russian Ministry of Finance after the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war in February 2022, leading to the freezing of about $300 billion in Russian sovereign assets in the West.
The European Union said on Monday that it had adopted a law to reserve profits on the frozen assets of the Russian Central Bank, in the first concrete step towards the bloc’s goal of using the money to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine.
“This is theft, it is the seizure of something that does not belong to you,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in statements to Sputnik Radio, reported by the Russian TASS news agency.
Zakharova warned that Moscow’s response would be “very harsh” because Russia feels it is actually dealing with thieves.
She added, “Because our country classified this matter as theft, the attitude will be toward thieves, not as political manipulators, and not as technicians who exaggerated their estimation, but rather as thieves.”
Russia says that if its properties are seized, it will also confiscate American, European and other assets.
Last month, Moscow hinted at the possibility of confiscating assets of Western countries worth $288 billion if these countries confiscated their assets for use in the reconstruction of Ukraine, according to what the Russian Information Agency reported.
