KREMLIN VOWS ‘VERY TOUGH’ RESPONSE AFTER WEST’S ‘THEFT’ OF ITS SEIZED ASSETS

Tue 13 February 2024:

Russia issued a “very tough” warning to the West on Tuesday, February 13, in the event that Europe and the US seize Russian assets.

In 2022, the US and the EU both seized $300 billion worth of Russian assets after Moscow decided to invade Ukraine. Russia issued the warning one day after the European Union passed a bill intending to use surplus funds from Russian assets that had been frozen in EU banks to rebuild Ukraine.

The law passed on Monday means central securities depositaries (CSDs), such as Euroclear, will be prohibited from using net profits and must keep revenues from the Russian assets separate.

The law would apply to all financial institutions holding Russian assets worth more than $1.1 million.

“This is theft: It’s the appropriation of something that doesn’t belong to you,” Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was quoted as saying by state-backed media. She added that Russia’s response would be “very tough.”

“Considering that our country has qualified this as theft, the attitude will be towards thieves,” Zakharova said. “Not as political manipulators, not as overplayed technologists, but as thieves,” she added. Moscow maintains that it would also seize American and European assets in a tit-for-tat move.

The majority of the assets are held by Belgium’s clearing house Euroclear.

Russia’s response came after the EU on Monday passed the law aimed at funding Ukraine’s rebuilding using Russian assets. The EU, along with G7 nations have been debating for over a year how the Russian assets should be used to help Ukraine.

The US even floated the idea of confiscating the $300 billion assets altogether, a move deemed too risky by the EU officials.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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