Europe Should Return Moscow Assets or be Known as Thieves — Russian Foreign Ministry

"Only Russia has the right to decide what will happen to the assets of the Russian Federation," Maria Zakharova stressed

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova Sergey Bulkin/TASS

© Sergey Bulkin/TASS

MOSCOW, November 25. /TASS/. European countries must return Russia’s blocked assets if they do not want to "become known as the European thieves" and receive the harshest response for their crime, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"Only Russia has the right to decide what will happen to the assets of the Russian Federation. And those in whose hands the money of the Russian Federation is illegally located must return it if they do not want to become known as the European thieves and receive the harshest response for their crime," the diplomat commented on Telegram on the words of French President Emmanuel Macron that the right to dispose of Russian assets frozen in the European Union belongs to Europe.

EU countries are trying to develop legal mechanisms for the use of frozen Russian assets. Most of them - just over 200 billion euros - are blocked on the Euroclear site in Belgium. The depository has repeatedly opposed the expropriation of these funds, warning that this could lead to Russia's seizure of European or Belgian assets in other parts of the world in court.

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow would not leave attempts to confiscate Russian assets unanswered.