The Kremlin on Thursday classified as “theft” and “illegal expropriation” the European Union’s (EU) transfer of Russian assets frozen by Western sanctions to Ukraine after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukrainian territory.
“This is nothing other than illegal expropriation. In Russian, this is theft of our money,” presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said at a daily telephone press conference.
Peskov stressed that these are “illegal actions that will certainly have legal consequences.”
The High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, ensured on Thursday that Brussels had begun to take advantage of the extraordinary benefits of frozen Russian assets and confirmed that 1.4 billion euros had already been transferred to Kyiv.
“What is important is that for the first time we are directly financing Ukrainian industry” with these funds, Borrell emphasized, taking into account that until now the European Fund for Peace Support (EFAP) has been limited to reimbursing member states for part of the costs of sending weapons to Kyiv.
Borrell recalled that there are still more than 6 billion euros from this fund that cannot be paid due to the blockade in Hungary, guaranteeing that he will look for “some way to bypass this veto by a Member State, because it is unacceptable”.
In mid-August, the Union announced that it would use some of the frozen assets of the Russian Central Bank to purchase large-caliber ammunition for Ukraine to defend itself against a Russian invasion.
Last June, Russian President Vladimir Putin had already classified the freezing of Russian assets in the West as “theft” and warned that the action “will not go unpunished” after the G7 (Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom) agreed to provide Ukraine with a loan from the interest earned on these funds.
The bulk of these assets, amounting to about 260 billion euros, are located in the European Union.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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