The EU is committing “theft” by handing over profits from frozen Russian assets to Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.
Some $300 billion in Moscow’s funds were blocked by the US and EU after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. Around $240 billion of the sum is still being held at the Belgium-based clearing house Euroclear.
On Wednesday, high-ranking Russian Foreign Ministry official Vladislav Maslennikov told RIA Novosti that Brussels has already transferred €8 billion ($9.1 billion) in income generated by the frozen Russian assets to the government in Kiev. Some €3.5 billion from the sum has been used to purchase arms for Ukrainian forces that are fighting the Russian military, he added.
When asked to comment on the development by journalists on Thursday, Peskov replied by saying that Moscow considers such actions as illegal.
“We truly believe this is theft. And we treat it accordingly, nothing has changed in our position here,” the spokesman noted.
Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said on Tuesday that the EU is working on a new scheme to confiscate the $240 billion in Moscow’s frozen sovereign assets altogether.
The bloc’s leaders have “a vital interest in stealing Russian assets” because they fear they will not be able to indefinitely finance Ukraine on their own, it said.
EU bureaucrats in Brussels are now discussing the creation of a new supranational structure that could take control of Russian central bank funds after they are moved outside Belgium’s jurisdiction, the SVR said.
The Belgian government has repeatedly blocked proposals to seize the assets, with Prime Minister Bart De Wever warning that such a step would expose his country to legal and financial liability. Euroclear has also said it could sue the EU if the funds are confiscated.
The bloc is “in a hurry” to pull off the seizure before elections in several EU states in 2027, the SVR stated, arguing that future governments in the bloc could be less willing to back further financial support for Ukraine.
The agency also warned that the move would undermine trust in European financial institutions among major foreign investors, including China, India, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Singapore.
Moscow has long said that any attempt to appropriate its sovereign funds would be against the law, warning that it would trigger legal action and retaliation, potentially including measures against Western assets held in Russia.