'Attempt to legalize theft': Russia slams EU decision to use profits from its frozen assets
The European Union will feel the "full measure" of Russian retaliation over its plan to use income from frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday. | Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Thursday slammed the EU decision to use revenues from Russian frozen assets as "an attempt to legitimize theft." ● The 27-member bloc has formally agreed to use windfall profits from roughly $300 billion frozen Russian assets to buy arms for Kyiv. The assets were frozen soon after Moscow launched its "special military operation" in Ukraine in 2022. ● Zakharova, in response to a question by Anadolu during a news conference in Moscow, said such actions of European politicians demonstrate that the continent cannot be considered as "reliable entity" for foreign investors anymore.
💬 "Is this the first time the collective West has done this? Of course not, but this once again confirms that the European Union can no longer be considered as a reliable legal entity for foreign investors, whose investments can be confiscated or looted at any moment under one pretext or another," she stressed, and rejected claims that revenues from assets are not their part. ● She said many investors have started withdrawing their assets from Western jurisdictions, and after the EU's "unprecedented lawless decision" on Russia this process will accelerate significantly."
■ Putin signs decree allowing use of U.S. property in Russia as compensation (aNews)