An ally of President Vladimir Putin warned Europe that Russia has already drafted retaliation legislation, in the event that Russian assets worth nearly 300 billion dollars are seized by the West and used to help Ukraine, reports “Reuters”.
After Russian forces invaded Ukraine in 2022, the United States and its allies banned transactions with Russia’s Central Bank and Finance Ministry, freezing about $300 billion in sovereign Russian assets in the West.
Senior officials in the United States want to seize the assets to help Ukraine, although some bankers and European officials fear that would set a dangerous precedent.
On Saturday, the US House of Representatives passed legislation, including a bill with a provision that would allow the seizure of Russian sovereign assets, even though the largest share of the assets are in Europe.
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“We also have a ready answer. We have a draft law that we are ready to consider immediately, for countermeasures,” stressed Valentina Matviyenko, Speaker of the Upper House of the Russian Parliament.
“And the Europeans will lose more than us“, warned Matviyenko, who is a member of the Security Council of Russia.
She did not elaborate on what the response would be to the seizure of Russian assets, which is still being debated in the West.
One of the options being discussed by the West is eand the income on the main assets is confiscatedwithout taking the asset itself.
Putin claims the West has unleashed what he describes as an economic war against Russia. However, he highlighted both the resilience of the Russian economy, which grew by 3.6% last year, and the failure of sanctions to shut down Russian trade.
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The Kremlin has repeatedly said that any seizure of Russian assets would go against all the principles of free markets espoused by the West, and would undermine confidence in the US dollar and the eurowhile hampering global investment and shaking confidence in Western central banks.
Russia assured that will challenge any confiscation of its assets in court.
Some Russian officials have hinted that if Russian assets are seized, the same could happen to the assets of foreign investors blocked in special so-called “C” accounts in Russia.
The exact amount of money in these accounts is not clear.
The chairman of the lower house of the Russian parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, said yesterday that Russia has grounds to seize Western assets following the move by the US House of Representatives.
He pointed out that of the $280 billion in Russian assets frozen abroad, only $5 to $6 billion are in the United States, and about 210 billion euros ($224 billion) are in the European Union.
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