Russia May Nationalize Property of US, EU Citizens in Response to Sanctions - Medvedev

He noted that Russia is being threatened with arrests of assets of Russian citizens and companies abroad - "just like that, without any sanctions," "in a carpet fashion," "out of spite"

© Yekaterina Shtukina/POOL/TASS

MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/. Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev speculated that Russia may nationalize property of people registered in the US, the EU and other unfriendly jurisdictions amid new anti-Russian sanctions.

He noted that Russia is being threatened with arrests of assets of Russian citizens and companies abroad - "just like that, without any sanctions," "in a carpet fashion," "out of spite." According to the politician, "this must be responded to in a quite symmetric manner."

"With arrest of assets of foreigners and foreign companies in Russia based on country principle. And maybe, with nationalization of property of people registered in unfriendly jurisdictions. Like the EU, EU member states and a number of singing-along states of the Anglo-Saxon world that will take part in this," he said on his VK page Saturday.

"Thankfully, we have vast experience and we have a law on this issue. A harsh one," Medvedev added ironically. "So the most interesting stuff only begins…"

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on Thursday morning that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories.

When clarifying the developments unfolding, the Russian Defense Ministry reassured that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are limited to surgically striking and incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure. There are no threats whatsoever to the civilian population.

A number of states, including Western one, announced harsh sanctions against Russia. The EU imposed financial and technological sectoral restrictions against 64 key Russian agencies, including the Presidential Administration, Russian Defense Ministry, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and other state structures, as well as companies of military industrial, energy, plane building and financial sectors of Russia. These states also blacklisted a number of Russian politicians, including President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other Russian citizens.