Russia Threatens the West Over Potential Seizure of Its Assets

On Sunday, April 28, Russia threatened the West with a "severe" response if its frozen assets are seized. Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, stated, "Russia will never relinquish territories it has occupied in Ukraine in exchange for the return of frozen assets." She added, "Russian assets must remain untouched, otherwise there will be a severe reaction to the theft from the West. Many in the West have already understood this." In response to Russia's war in Ukraine, the United States and its allies banned transactions with the Russian Central Bank and Ministry of Finance, blocking approximately $300 billion of Russian assets in the West, most of which are in European financial institutions rather than American ones. Dmitry Medvedev, a senior Russian security official, said on Saturday that Russia might respond to any actions aimed at seizing the blocked currency reserves by the United States in the West by confiscating assets, including property and cash of American citizens and investors in Russia. Under the U.S. supplemental budget law, which includes $61 billion in aid to Ukraine, the Biden administration is allowed to seize Russian assets in American banks and transfer them to Ukraine. Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesperson, stated that there is still a lot of money from the West in Russia that could be targeted by Moscow's retaliatory actions. He said, "The path for legal challenges (against the seizure of Russian assets) will be completely open, which Russia will use to defend its interests until the end." Janet Yellen, U.S. Treasury Secretary, stated on Thursday that direct seizure of Russian assets is justifiable but is only one possible way, and that the assets could instead be used as collateral for borrowing in the market to assist Ukraine. In an interview with Reuters, she said, "The Europeans have taken a very constructive step in this regard, which is that most of the Russian assets held in Belgium... have now been converted to cash, and the (financial institution) Euroclear is benefiting from those assets. The European Union has agreed to separate these profits and essentially adopt a process that allows these assets to be transferred to Ukraine."