LONDON: Russia is developing a legal and financial response in the event that Western countries move to expropriate its sovereign assets, Ru...
LONDON: Russia is developing a legal and financial response in the event that Western countries move to expropriate its sovereign assets, Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom Andrey Kelin said in an interview with Sky News Arabia.
"I will not speak long about that, because we have our economists that know how to deal with that, but I can say that we are preparing a very serious response. It will be a legal response and financial response. First, many Europeans will lose their own money that have been invested in Russia. Second, we will pursue those who are standing close to this idea," he said.
The diplomat also noted that if Russian assets are expropriated, countries of the Global South will lose trust in European states. "Europe will lose its credibility, including for Arab world, of course," he said, adding that the move to confiscate Russian assets would entail "very serious retribution".
EU countries continue discussing options for further funding of Ukraine, including the possibility of using frozen Russian assets in the West. Belgium blocked the European Commission’s proposal at the October 23 EU summit to expropriate Russian assets under the guise of providing Ukraine with a "reparations loan," fearing retaliatory measures from Moscow and demanding legal guarantees from EU members that Belgium’s financial losses would be shared across the bloc.
A decision on this issue was postponed until the EU summit in December, and the European Commission was instructed to prepare various options for financing Ukraine in 2026-2027. The European Central Bank declined to support a 140 bln euro payment to Ukraine.
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