MOSCOW, August 13. /TASS/. Moscow has the right to introduce countermeasures if the European Union (EU) uses Russian assets to support Kiev, Deputy Director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Alexey Fadeyev, said at a briefing.
"The EU's attempts to use Russian assets in the interests of the Kiev regime, which is already close to bankruptcy, will not help Ukraine, and most importantly, will not change the course of the special military operation," he noted.
"Any attempts on our property will result in a painful response for the expropriators, and Russia reserves the right to countermeasures," he said.
The official stressed that the transfer of Russian assets to Ukraine is unjustifiable. According to him, such actions represent an escalation of economic aggression as an element of a hybrid war against Russia.
"The desire to invent some new pseudo-constructions for the seizure of Russian assets or income from managing them does not change the criminal essence of the West's intentions aimed at sponsoring the Kiev authorities and at the expense of foreign gold and foreign exchange reserves," Fadeyev said.
On August 11, the European Commission (EC) received the third tranche of seized income from the reinvestment of illegally blocked Russian sovereign assets in the amount of 1.6 billion euros. Earlier, the EC reported that 95% of these funds would go to payments on international loans to Ukraine, including those provided by the European Union and its members, and the remaining 5% would be transferred to urgent military needs of Ukraine, weapons supplies for these funds will be carried out through the European Peace Facility.
About 200 billion euros of Russian sovereign assets are frozen in the EU, the bulk of which are in the accounts of the Euroclear depository in Belgium.