Russia has already drawn up legislation to retaliate if the West seizes nearly $300 billion in Russian assets and uses them to help Ukraine, an ally of the country’s President Vladimir Putin has warned Europe.
After President Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine in 2022, the United States and its allies banned transactions with Russia’s central bank and finance ministry, freezing about $300 billion in Russian state assets held in the West.
What top officials in the US are saying
Top officials in the US want to confiscate assets and use them to prop up Ukraine, though some bankers and European officials worry that would set a dangerous precedent.
The US House of Representatives on Saturday passed legislation that includes a bill with a provision that would allow the seizure of Russian state assets, although the lion’s share of those assets are located in Europe.
“We also have a ready answer,” the speaker of the Russian parliament’s upper house, Valentina Matviyenko, was quoted as saying by state news agency RIA.
“We have a draft law, which we are ready to consider immediately, regarding retaliatory measures.”
“And the Europeans will lose more than us,” stressed Matviyenko, who is a member of Russia’s powerful Security Council.
Matviyenko did not say anything specific about what the response will be to the seizure of Russian assets, which is still being debated in the West.
One option, discussed by the West, is to confiscate the proceeds of the assets without confiscating the assets themselves.
The Kremlin
The Kremlin it has repeatedly stated that any seizure of its assets would go against all Western free market principles and undermine confidence in the US dollar and euro, while deterring global investment and undermining confidence in Western central banks.
Russia has also said it will take legal action against any seizure of its assets.
The speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, said yesterday, Monday, that Russia has reasons to seize Western assets after the move by the US House of Representatives.
Volodin said that of the $280 billion in Russian assets held abroad, only $5 billion to $6 billion are in the United States, while about 210 billion euros are in the EU.
