An ally of President Vladimir Putin warned Europe today that Russia has already drafted legislation to retaliate if the West seizes nearly $300 billion in Russian assets and uses them to help Ukraine.
After President Vladimir Putin sent troops in 2022 to Ukraine, the United States and its allies banned transactions with Russia’s central bank and finance ministry, blocking roughly $300 billion in Russian state assets located in the West.
Top officials at USA wants to seize the assets and use them to support Ukrainealthough some bankers and European officials are concerned that this would set a dangerous precedent.
The US House of Representatives adopted it on Saturday legislation that includes a bill with a provision allowing for the seizure of Russian state assetsalthough the lion’s share of these assets are in Europe.
“We also have a ready answer”, Valentina Matviyenko, the speaker of the upper house of the Russian parliament, 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.
A choice, which discussed by the West, is to confiscate the proceeds of the assets without confiscating the assets themselves.
The Kremlin has repeatedly stated that any confiscation of its assets would go against all the free market principles that the West proclaims and would undermine confidence in the US dollar and the euro, while deterring global investment and undermining confidence in Western central banks.
Russia has also stated that will go to court against any seizure of its assets.
The speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, said yesterday, Monday, that Russia has grounds 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 to $6 billion is in the United States, while about €210 billion is in the EU.
