Russia is poised to take severe retaliatory measures against the West following the expropriation of its sovereign assets, according to senior officials on Tuesday.
The announcement by the EU that it will soon begin redirecting the interest accrued from frozen Russian assets to Ukraine has prompted a strong reaction from the Kremlin. Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for the Kremlin, declared that Moscow plans to initiate legal actions against those involved in what he termed the "theft" of approximately 260 billion euros ($282 billion) in Russian assets, as reported by RT.
“Such acts of thievery cannot remain without a response,” Peskov remarked. This statement followed European Union's chief diplomat Josep Borrell’s revelation that the initial portion of the interest earned on the frozen assets—amounting to about 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion)—will be dispatched to Kiev in early August to support arms procurement.
Peskov criticized the use of these funds for weapon purchases, arguing that “This money is not only stolen, but also spent to buy weapons. It’s hard to imagine anything worse.” He further contended that utilizing the assets in this manner breaches international law and infringes on property rights.
Following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, the West froze nearly $300 billion of assets belonging to the Central Bank of Russia, with the majority of these funds held in Euroclear, the EU’s largest depositary and clearing house.
In May, the EU approved a scheme to allocate the interest from these frozen assets to aid Ukraine’s recovery and defense efforts. According to this plan, 90 percent of the proceeds will be channeled into an EU-administered fund for Ukrainian military support, while the remaining 10 percent will be used for other forms of assistance to Kiev.
Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, has also condemned the planned fund transfer and promised a severe response. “We have repeatedly said that we will respond very harshly,” Zakharova said on Tuesday. “Naturally, we will act in the national interests, and they will feel it, and I think they know it.”
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