A United States proposal to seize Russian assets blocked abroad to help rebuild Ukraine is tantamount to “piracy in the 21st century,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday, according to Reuters.
Zakharova said Russia believes the Washington government is trying to create a “legal cover” for “theft” and threatened that Russia would retaliate if Russian assets abroad were seized.
“Retaliatory measures will be taken, and such measures will be taken that will be noticed, felt, painful for those who are starting another round of trade, economic and financial war,” Zakharova said at the briefing.
“The withdrawal of our sovereign reserves will have catastrophic consequences for the financial and investment spheres in those states that, contrary to the warnings of sound experts, will take such a step. The Russian side is not interested in such a development of the situation, but is ready for any options, including those that provide appropriate responses to any unfriendly actions,” added Zakharova, quoted by Interfax.
Russian assets worth hundreds of billions of dollars are blocked in the West
His comments came two days after Bloomberg reported that President Joe Biden’s administration is backing legislation that would seize about $300 billion in Russian assets to help rebuild Ukraine.
“The bill will provide the necessary authority to the executive branch to confiscate Russian sovereign assets for the benefit of Ukraine,” the National Security Council’s memorandum to the Senate Committee on International Affairs in Washington states.
A day ago, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also commented on this topic, accusing the United States of trying to pressure European countries to support the seizure of frozen Russian assets.
Peskov said that Moscow had not been informed of the development and that news of such a move looked like a provocative attempt to pressure European countries, where he said the main Russian assets are located, to sign the asset freeze.
Both the United States and Kyiv’s other partners support seizing frozen Russian assets for use in Ukraine’s recovery efforts, but some European governments oppose the measure, fearing that its legal systems would be overturned.
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Source: Hot News
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