EU plan to seize frozen Russian assets equals 'economic racketeering'
3 Min Read
Russia sees actions conducted against its sovereign assets and those belonging to its citizens and companies “as economic racketeering on the part of the collective West."
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EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell attends a joint news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba following their talks in Ukraine, on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024. (AP)
The Russian Foreign Ministry asserted in an interview for RIA Novosti that the EU’s plan to seize the profits from frozen Russian assets and transfer them over to Ukraine would be considered a breach of international law.
“[The EU’s] invention of openly fraudulent schemes for the seizure of income from Russian assets is dictated by the need to create the illusion of legitimacy over attacks on our property and thereby camouflage what is in fact an outright theft,” the Ministry stated.
It added that EU members “clearly do not want to continue paying for the doomed ‘Ukrainian project’ from their own wallets,” which is “why they are so tempted by the idea of spending funds stolen from our country to support the Zelensky regime.”
It continued to stress that Russia sees actions conducted against its sovereign assets and those belonging to its citizens and companies “as economic racketeering on the part of the collective West."
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova already said last week that the EU plan was an "escalation of economic aggression" and a trade war and warned that Russia would respond in a correspondingly harsh manner.
Read more: Ukraine's SBU uncovers $40mln embezzlement scheme in the military
She said that any attempt to seize Russian assets would be a gross violation of the West’s own law, international rules, and bilateral obligations.
Not an easy job
This comes after European Council President Charles Michel said last week that constructing a legal framework to allow the EU to seize frozen Russian state assets won't be such an easy thing to do.
During a European Parliament plenary session, he said, "It’s not going to be easy because there are international and legal constraints. We need to work, but we will do so working with our G7 partners."
Together with the G7 partners (the US, Japan, and Canada), the EU is anticipated to hold around $300 billion of Russian central bank assets.
This comes as the G7 has been discussing how to seize the funds to pay for Ukraine’s reconstruction. What the EU is considering mirrors that of the US Justice Department, as it seeks congressional approval to utilize frozen Russian assets in support of Ukraine.
For instance, Belgium-based clearing house Euroclear, with an estimated €196.6 billion ($211 billion) in Russian assets, has already accumulated almost €4.4 billion in interest from sanctioned Russian accounts and funds.
Kiev's allies have been grappling with further means to send more funds as the war nears its two-year mark, and have been looking into the allocation of frozen Russian funds - estimated at $300 billion - as military aid to Kiev.
