The European Commission proposed the creation of a special structure to manage the frozen Russian assets and use them for payments to Ukraine.
This was stated by the head of the EC Ursula von der Leyen.
According to her, Russia and the Russian oligarchs should "compensate Ukraine for the damage and cover the costs of restoring the country."
Von der Leyen claims damage is estimated at €600 million.
“We have a way to make Russia pay.
We have blocked €300bn of Russian Central Bank reserves and frozen €19bn of Russian oligarchs' funds. In the short term, together with our partners, we could create a structure to manage and invest these funds.
The profit received will go to the needs of Ukraine,” the statement of the head of the EC, published on the official website of the commission, says.
The Russian Foreign Ministry reacted to Ursula von der Leyen's statement.
Deputy head of the department Alexander Grushko said that the EC is looking for ways to steal Russian assets in one way or another.
“All this feverish activity of the EC is aimed at finding ways to “legitimize” the illegal sanctions imposed on our country and steal assets belonging to Russian individuals and legal entities, not by washing, but by rolling," the deputy minister said.
In turn, the official representative of the department, Maria Zakharova, stressed that Moscow would take retaliatory measures in the event of the seizure of Russian assets in the European Union.
“We once again warn that if it comes to real confiscation of the property of Russian citizens, enterprises, state reserves of our country, then adequate measures will inevitably follow from the Russian side,” the diplomat said at a briefing.
Zakharova added that the responsibility for the consequences of these measures, "including for the interests of European business, will lie solely with Brussels."
Dmitry Belik, a member of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, in an interview with RT noted that the European Commission thus wants to actually legalize the robbery of Russian assets.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
Gettyimages.ru
© Thierry Monasse
“The head of the European Commission, apparently, intends to legalize the concept of “robbery”, announcing the creation of special structures for managing Russia’s assets,” the deputy believes.
According to the parliamentarian, such initiatives are a scenario for the misappropriation of funds from another country by Western politicians.
“Where they will be sent - to help the Kyiv regime, or to the defense complexes of individual countries of the collective West, is a big question,” the source said.
The Russian Permanent Mission to the EU, in turn, said that Brussels' intention to dispose of Russia's financial reserves at its own discretion is a lesson for world business.
"Illegitimate actions on the part of Brussels to freeze the gold and foreign exchange reserves of the Russian Federation and the assets of private individuals, which enjoy immunity under international law, as well as the intention to dispose of them at their own discretion, are a demonstrative lesson for the world community and business," the diplomats noted.
Abnormal confiscation
After the start of the special military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, Western countries and their allies increased sanctions pressure on Moscow and froze about half of Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves in the amount of about $300 billion.
The authorities in Kyiv expect that the assets alienated from the Russian Federation will go to the Ukrainian state.
In August, they already took legislative measures to confiscate 903 Russian assets, including the property of sanctioned citizens and companies of the Russian Federation, as well as funds from Russian banks.
“The next big step should be the confiscation of Russian assets in the West in order to restore Ukraine,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stressed at the time.
In mid-November, the Politico newspaper, citing documents at its disposal, reported that the European Union had decided to freeze Russian assets worth €68 billion. unknown.
“These are absolutely illegal actions, they are contrary to international law, this is nothing more than an encroachment on property – in this case, state property – and on private property,” Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the Russian President, commented on the situation.
Later, a Kremlin spokesman said that Russia would do everything possible to return the seized assets, taking into account the raider methods of their capture.
On November 14, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution recognizing the need to create a mechanism to compensate alleged losses to Ukraine.
In turn, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev stressed that in response to the potential confiscation of Russian assets, Moscow could seize the property of foreign companies.
“They (foreign loans, funds frozen in accounts, and other valuables) in our country, by a happy coincidence, are just more than $ 300 billion. Enough to compensate for what was stolen from Russia,” Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel .
investment reception
The Europeans want to gain control over the funds of the Russian Federation, while they will not directly transfer them to Ukraine - this is the essence of the proposal of the head of the European Commission, Vadim Trukhachev, a teacher at the Department of Foreign Regional Studies and Foreign Policy of the Historical and Archival Institute of the RSUH, said in a conversation with RT.
“This is being done because there is a high risk that in Ukraine this money will simply be stolen or used in some inappropriate way.
Therefore, the Europeans want to control the process.
Surely this scheme will allow them to keep part of the funds and send them to their own needs, ”the political scientist emphasized.
Gettyimages.ru
© Alberto Pezzali/NurPhoto
The confiscation of the assets of the Russian Federation in the European Union in one form or another will lead to the fact that the EU countries will no longer be attractive to investors, Vadim Trukhachev believes.
“Europeans, apparently, are not afraid.
They are guided by the logic of wartime and are ready to bear the costs and losses to punish Russia, ”said the interlocutor of RT.
The idea of \u200b\u200bconfiscating Russian assets is contrary to European and international law and is being promoted by Euro-Atlantic politicians, to which the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen belongs, Vladimir Olenchenko, a senior researcher at the Center for European Studies at IMEMO RAS, emphasized in a conversation with RT.
“This will have a negative impact on all EU countries, since Russian assets in Europe do not exist in some kind of vacuum or neutral space.
They are the subject of bilateral relations with individual countries of the union, so the decision on confiscation will affect the further relations of the Russian Federation with these countries.
There are certainly politicians in these countries who understand what this will lead to.
Does Ursula von der Leyen take this into account?
I think she just ignores it, ”the expert explained.
In the EU, after the pandemic, its own financial deficit has formed, so the proposal to create a certain structure for managing Russian assets is clearly aimed at ensuring that they “settled” in the European Union, Vladimir Olenchenko believes.
“Under the guise of 'investment', they hope to use these funds to eliminate the consequences of their own managerial and economic incompetence.
Something will be given to Ukraine.
The EC has previously decided that assistance to Ukraine will be provided in the form of loans on concessional terms.
Therefore, there is apparently such a double trick here: on the one hand, to receive money to cover their own flaws in economic development, on the other hand, the allocation of these funds to Ukraine at interest, ”the expert explained.
Such decisions will create an obvious precedent that all other countries should pay attention to, the RT interlocutor added.
“The EU can apply the same model to any other states.
This should concern the countries of the post-Soviet space and the Persian Gulf, which store or invest their funds in Europe,” Vladimir Olenchenko concluded.