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Moscow will take adequate retaliatory steps if Russian assets abroad seized — MFA

Maria Zakharova noted that "the West's refusal to interact exclusively within the legal framework and the further aggravation of the situation with the access of states and individuals to their assets" will create an extremely dangerous precedent

MOSCOW, May 25. /TASS/. Moscow will take adequate retaliatory actions if other countries seize assets belonging to Russia, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Wednesday.

"Any use of the funds of both the Russian state and its citizens without the consent of the legitimate owners, as you understand, will be interpreted by us as an unlawful and defiantly unfriendly attack on a particular country and its power structures, giving the right to adequate response actions," the diplomat stressed.

Speaking about the blocking of Russian foreign accounts, Zakharova said that Moscow considers such steps illegitimate and violating the international law and the unbiased functioning of the global financial system.

"Of course, this is the beginning of the destruction of the global financial system. Such actions of Western countries can be interpreted as a blatant encroachment on sovereign property and a blatant theft. This applies not only to interstate relations, but also to private ones, because the same applies to individuals as well," the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.

According to her, this is another reason for the whole world to think about the reliability of the dollar and the euro as reserve currencies and the main means of external settlements, as well as the ability of the US and the EU to guarantee anything to anyone.

Zakharova noted that "the West's refusal to interact exclusively within the legal framework and the further aggravation of the situation with the access of states and individuals to their assets" will create an extremely dangerous precedent.

"This would mean that the sovereign status of certain assets is no longer guaranteed and can always be revised by individual players using their privileged positions when the geopolitical situation changes," the diplomat stressed.