Kremlin calls EU plan to aid Ukraine with interest from Russian assets ‘theft’, vows action
- After Putin sent troops into Ukraine, the US and its allies prohibited transactions with Russia’s central bank, blocking US$300 billion of assets
The Kremlin on Tuesday called a European Union plan to use interest earned on frozen Russian assets to fund military aid to Ukraine “theft” and said it would take legal action against anyone involved in the decision.
The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, on Monday said that the first tranche of 1.4 billion euros in military aid for Ukraine taken from proceeds earned on frozen Russian assets would be made in early August.
“Such thievish actions cannot remain without reciprocity,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “This money is not only essentially stolen, but will also be spent on the purchase of weapons.”
“Definitely, we will work out the possible legal prosecution of those people who are involved in decision-making and the implementation of these decisions, because this is a direct violation of international law, it is a violation of property rights.”
After President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, the United States and its allies prohibited transactions with Russia’s central bank and finance ministry, blocking around US$300 billion of sovereign Russian assets in the West.
