Russian Foreign Ministry: If Russian assets are seized, Russia will make a very painful response

Russia Satellite Communications Agency, Moscow, October 30 - Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, stated that if the frozen Russian assets are seized, Russia will make a very painful response.

Zakharova said at a press conference: "If the European Commission, European countries or any party takes illegal actions to seize our funds, we will regard it as robbery and impose inevitable and extremely strict punishment according to Russian law and international law. According to the principle of reciprocity, Russia guarantees to give these 'seizurers' an extremely painful response."

On October 23, EU member states' leaders failed to reach an agreement at a summit in Brussels on the European Commission's proposal, which aimed to use the frozen Russian central bank assets as a basis for providing loans to Ukraine. EU leaders will discuss these issues again at the European Council meeting on December 18-19.

In February 2022, after Russia launched a special military operation against Ukraine, unfriendly countries imposed sanctions on Russia, resulting in the freezing of Russian sovereign assets and private investor funds. Approximately 300 billion euros of Russia's foreign exchange reserves were frozen. Of this, about 200 billion euros were within the EU, mostly held in the world's largest clearing and settlement system - Euroclear in Belgium. Euroclear reported that it earned approximately 3 billion euros in interest from investments in Russian assets in the first nine months of 2023.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly pointed out that freezing Russian assets in Europe is an act of theft. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that Russia will respond to Western countries seizing its frozen assets. He said that Russia may also not return the funds of Western countries stored in Russia.

Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1847429534764044/

Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.