The G7 countries intend to keep Russian sovereign assets frozen until the conflict in Ukraine is resolved. This was announced on February 24 at the White House.
“The G7 countries will continue to keep Russia’s sovereign assets frozen until a solution to the conflict is found,” the statement said. statementposted on the White House website.
On February 16, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said that Moscow would take the necessary measures to protect the interests of the country if the European Union (EU) confiscates Russian assets in favor of Ukraine. At the same time, he stressed that the confiscation of Russian assets is absolutely illegal.
The day before, Daphne Rand, director of the US State Department’s Office of Foreign Assistance, said that the US would continue to seize Russian assets and was already planning how to use them to help Ukraine.
On the same day, the Swiss Ministry of Justice and Police stated that the confiscation of private Russian assets would be contrary to the State Constitution and the current legal order. This was confirmed by lawyers from the working group of the Federal Council of the country.
In turn, Alexei Chepa, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, expressed the opinion that the West wants to expropriate the assets of the Russian Federation, and not transfer them to Kyiv. According to him, 10 years ago he heard a similar proposal, then in Europe they wanted to appropriate the funds of Russian and Chinese entrepreneurs.
Prior to that, on February 13, the Russian ambassador in London, Andrey Kelin, said that the UK also plans to confiscate the assets of the Russian Federation and is preparing a legislative framework for this.
The European Union froze the assets of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation for €300 billion, as well as about €19 billion owned by Russian businessmen.
Western countries have begun to tighten sanctions in response to Russia’s conduct of a special operation in the Donbass. Soon the European Union approved the decision to freeze the assets of the Central Bank. Moscow noted that the seizure of Russian funds is comparable to theft.
For more up-to-date videos and details about the situation in Donbass, watch the Izvestia TV channel.
