Russia Warns Europe: Seize Russian Assets and Face Retaliation

Russia has warned Europe on Tuesday that it is prepared to retaliate if the West seizes almost $300 billion of Russian assets to help Ukraine. Valentina Matviyenko, an ally of President Vladimir Putin and president of the Russian upper house of parliament, made the announcement following the United States and its allies’ ban on transactions with Russia’s central bank and finance ministry, freezing roughly $300 billion of Russian assets in the West.

Top officials in the United States are considering seizing assets to aid Ukraine, but some bankers and European officials are concerned about setting a dangerous precedent. The American House of Representatives passed a law on Saturday with a provision allowing for the seizure of Russian property, even though most of Russia’s assets are in Europe, not the US.

Matviyenko stated that Russia has prepared a bill with retaliatory measures that they are ready to consider immediately. She emphasized that if European countries seize Russian property, they will lose more than Russia. The details of Russia’s response to property seizure are still being discussed in the West.

Putin has characterized the West’s actions as an economic war against Russia, arguing that the Russian economy, which grew by 3.6 percent last year, is resilient to Western sanctions. The Kremlin has reiterated that any seizure of its assets would undermine confidence in the US dollar and the euro, deter global investment, and go against free market principles.

The lower house of the Russian parliament, led by Vyacheslav Volodin, expressed that Russia has grounds to seize Western assets in response to US legislation. Volodin pointed out that out of $280 billion of Russian assets frozen abroad, only $5 to $6 billion are in the US, while about $210 billion are in the European Union. It remains unclear how much money is in foreign investment accounts blocked in Russia.

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