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'Pure racketeering’: Kremlin slams G7 ploy to restore Ukraine using stolen Russian assets

Replying to a question about the Kremlin's take on the ideas voiced at the G7 summit, Dmitry Peskov noted that they were perceived "extremely negatively"

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov Sergei Bobylev/TASS

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov

© Sergei Bobylev/TASS

MOSCOW, October 12. /TASS/. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov hit out at a G7 scheme to use Russian assets to restore Ukraine as international racketeering and legalized theft.

Replying to a question about the Kremlin's take on the ideas voiced at the G7 summit, Peskov noted that they were perceived "extremely negatively". According to him, "they are talking about blatant attempts to discuss the possibility of legalizing previously committed theft."

"It’s just pure international racketeering," Peskov stressed. In his opinion, "it is very sad that such topics are discussed at such forums."

The member states of the Group of Seven (G7) believe that in the process of rebuilding post-conflict Ukraine, among other things, frozen Russian funds must be used for this objective. This was laid out in a joint statement by the G7 leadership, released on Tuesday by the German Cabinet.

After the launch of Moscow’s special operation in Ukraine, the US-led West imposed sanctions against the Bank of Russia. In addition to freezing Russia’s gold and foreign exchange reserves, all transactions related to the management of reserves and assets of the Bank of Russia, as well as transactions with any legal entity, organization or body acting on behalf of, or on behalf of the regulator, fell under the ban. Some Western countries consider it necessary to use Russian assets blocked in other countries to finance the restoration of Ukraine and have called for the seizure of these funds for this scheme.

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