French Patriots: using Russian frozen assets in EU 'illegal, foolish'
3 Min Read
The leader of the French Patriots party says the move of seizing Russia's assets could be used to trigger Russia into taking retributive measures.
-
Far-right Florian Philippot addresses the crowd during a rally against the health pass, on Saturday, Aug. 21, 2021, in Paris.(AP)
Leader of the French Patriots party, Florian Philippot, told RIA Novosti that using Russia's frozen assets in the European Union is "illegal and foolish", as Russia has more Western assets.
"This is illegal and foolish, since Russia has more Western assets than Russian assets [located] here [in Europe], including many French assets. If they do this, I think Russia will do the same. It will be a war," Philippot stated.
He further added that this could be used to trigger Russia into taking retributive measures and then point fingers at it, stating "Obviously, this is stupidity, but this is what everyone is waiting for. The West is waiting for Russia to do the same thing in order to say: ‘Look how evil the Russians are,’ and this will be another reason to attack them and impose sanctions."
Philippot also said that this seizure will be a bad sign for investors, "It will also be a detrimental signal for all the world investors: ‘Invest into us, but if once we are at war, we will seize your property.’ Therefore, no one will invest anymore."
Use Russian assets for profit, not war: Macron
Earlier this week, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that the seizure of frozen Russian assets in the European Union and the latter's utilization to finance Ukraine will violate international law and hinder the EU.
However, he added that France fully backs the idea of introducing a tax on profits coming from the reinvestment of the frozen Russian assets, which could provide 3-5 billion euros ($3.2-$5.4 billion) per year.
Russia made it very clear before
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told RIA Novosti on February 26 that if the West applies its threats to Russia and confiscates Russian assets blocked abroad, Russia's response will not be nice. He stressed that the West also has assets in Russia that could be endangered if the latter's funds are used.
"This is not a question for us, we are following the decisions of Western countries,” he said, "We have frozen no less [of Western funds]. Any actions with our assets will receive a symmetrical response.”
Since the Ukraine-Russia conflict began in February 2022, Western countries have frozen an estimated $300 billion in assets belonging to the Russian central bank, which the UK and US have recently threatened to take and use for aiding Ukraine.
On the other hand, in the same context of seizing the funds, the EU has been aiming to use the interest earned from these Russian assets at the clearinghouse Euroclear.
