BRUSSELS, May 21. /TASS/. Brussels has escalate theft to the status of an instrument of its foreign policy by making a decision on seizure of revenue from Russian assets, Acting Russian Permanent Representative to the EU Kirill Logvinov told Russian reporters.

"The EU, which has firmly embarked on the path of self-destruction, has without exaggeration opened a new page in the history of international monetary and financial relations, as well as its own integration," he said. "The EU deliberately resorted to an unprecedented step - theft of sovereign assets of a foreign state. This is a clear example of what European values and the rule-based order, imposed by the West, actually is."

According to the envoy, in this case, some ‘legal basis’ for ‘machinations with revenues from illegally blocked assets of the Bank of Russia’ has become one such rule.

"In reality, the EU demonstrated to the entire global community that now it feels entitled to steal entrusted financial reserves, to default on its own commitments on protection of private property and investments, on adherence of international legal immunities," Logvinov said. "Thus, theft has officially been escalated to the status of an instrument of Brussel’s foreign policy."

"The consequences of such precedent will definitely have an unpredictable nature, including for the Eurozone, for the economy of member states, for the investment climate. Only one thing is predictable: sooner or later, the EU will have to return what it has stolen to our country," he concluded.

Earlier, the European Council passed a decree that obliges all EU financial institutions, which possess over 1 billion euros worth of frozen Russian assets, to transfer revenues from these assets to the European Commission, which will then forward 90% of these funds on weapons for Kiev and 10% on economic aid programs for Ukraine, The European Commission expects to gather about 2.5-3 billion euros annually this way. The first withdrawal is scheduled for July, 2024. Currently, the EU possesses about 210 billion euros worth of frozen sovereign Russian assets.