The Russian funds frozen in the West will sooner or later be returned, any form of their withdrawal is contrary to international law. Kirill Logvinov, Acting Permanent Representative of Russia to the EU, spoke about this on Tuesday, March 7.
“No matter how many meetings the European Union, the G7, no matter what form they try to invent for the seizure of Russian assets, any “thieves’ scheme” by definition contradicts generally accepted legal norms,” the diplomat said in an interview with “RIA News“.
He also added that if Russian assets are lost, the EU will be obliged to compensate for all losses at the expense of taxpayers. According to the diplomat, the Europeans are unlikely to know about it.
Logvinov noted that the legal service of the EU Council, in fact, recognized the need to return to Russia all the funds, and even with interest.
On February 27, the White House announced that the G7 countries intend to keep Russian sovereign assets frozen until the conflict in Ukraine is resolved.
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 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 United States 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.
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.
