State Duma (the lower house of Russia’s parliament) President Vyacheslav Volodin, a key close ally of President Vladimir Putin, threatened on Sunday to seize assets belonging to European Union member states that Moscow considers unfriendly if the EU bloc moves to what he called ” theft” of frozen Russian funds for the purpose of financing Ukraine, Reuters informs.

Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Commission, said on Friday that the European executive is working on a proposal to collect profits (interest) received from the financial assets of the Russian state, frozen in the EU, with the aim of directing these benefits to the reconstruction of Ukraine, reports Agerpres.

Vyacheslav Volodin said Moscow would respond in a way that would be even more costly for the EU bloc if the EU succeeded against Russian assets, many of which are held in Belgium.

“Several European politicians, led by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, have again spoken about the embezzlement of our country’s frozen funds to continue the militarization of Kyiv,” Volodin said in a statement published in Telegram.

“Such a decision will require a symmetrical response from the Russian Federation,” he said, threatening that in such a case Moscow could confiscate many more assets belonging to unfriendly countries than “our frozen funds in Europe.”

Von der Leyen said on Friday that the value of frozen Russian sovereign assets was 211 billion euros ($223.15 billion) and recalled that the bloc had decided that Russia should pay for the restoration of Ukraine.

Volodin also said that EU politicians are considering the move “trying to save their jobs and because of the bad financial situation they have brought their countries to,” according to Reuters.

Following the illegal and unwarranted invasion of Ukraine, Russia is under several Western sanctions, with the EU and the G7 blocking Moscow’s access to some $300 billion worth of their foreign exchange or gold reserves, a move Moscow describes as “theft”. “.