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Russian ambassador warns Germany seizure of assets would be seen as unfriendly step

Sergey Nechayev added that Germany has not yet made a final decision to go through with the idea

LEIPZIG, December 21. /TASS/. Russian Ambassador to Germany Sergey Nechayev has warned that Germany would make a very unfriendly step if it goes ahead with the plan to seize Russian assets.

"It would be an unprecedented step," he said, when asked to comment on recent moves by the German Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office to seize more than 720 million euros of Russian money and transfer it to state coffers.

Germany has not yet made a final decision to go through with the idea, according to the diplomat.

"It is only being considered. How it fits into the legal norms of the German rule of law is yet to be assessed" he told reporters on the occasion of closing the Russian Consulate General in Leipzig. "But if this were to happen, it would be, indeed, another very unfriendly step that would be given a proper assessment."

The German Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office said on Wednesday that it had submitted a motion to a court to seize Russian assets worth more than 720 million euros and transfer them to state coffers. A spokeswoman for the Frankfurt am Main court told TASS that the motion is undergoing preliminary consideration, and no decision has been made to start proceedings on the merits of the case.

Der Spiegel reported that the owner of the funds is Russia’s National Settlement Depositary.