MOSCOW, Oct. 2 — Moscow will have a “very firm response” if the European Union (EU) takes any actions targeting Russian assets, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Thursday.
“Guided by the principle of reciprocity, any EU attempt to encroach on our property will be met with a very firm response, and they are well aware of this.
Russia has a sufficient arsenal of countermeasures and the capacity to mount an appropriate reciprocal political and economic response,” Zakharova said in a briefing.
She said that European countries must strictly fulfill their international obligations — confiscating, freezing, or otherwise using sovereign assets without the owners’ consent constitutes a gross violation of the principle of sovereign equality among states.
In September, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed providing Ukraine with a new loan funded by frozen Russian assets.
She claimed Ukraine would only repay the loan if Russia pays “reparations,” though there is no consensus on the loan within the EU.
Since the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, the EU and G7 countries have frozen nearly half of Russia’s foreign exchange reserves, approximately 300 billion euros (351.4 billion U.S. dollars).
Over 200 billion euros (234.3 billion dollars) of this sum is held in the EU, primarily in accounts at Belgium-based Euroclear, one of the world’s largest settlement and clearing systems.
In early October, the European Commission announced that in January-September 2025, the EU had transferred 14 billion euros (16.4 billion dollars) to Ukraine, using funds generated from the frozen assets of the Central Bank of Russia.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry has repeatedly decried the freezing of its assets in Europe as theft, highlighting that EU measures target both private and state property.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that Moscow will retaliate against any confiscations, noting Russia could similarly withhold Western funds held within its borders. (Xinhua)
