MOSCOW, February 5. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has pointed to the inconsistency of US President Donald Trump’s actions regarding the extension of a law that, among other things, requires the continued seizure of Russia’s gold and foreign exchange reserves.

In an interview with RT, the minister noted that in April 2025, after the Russian side established contact with the Trump administration, the "International Emergency Economic Powers Act" originally adopted under former US President Joe Biden was extended for another year. "This law contains a provision stipulating that Russia’s gold and foreign exchange reserves must remain under arrest due to Russia’s ‘hostile foreign policy.’ The law was simply rubber-stamped, and the administration took no steps to withdraw it, amend it, or explain the circumstances, which in our relations have become entirely different. Moreover, the current administration’s understanding of what is happening differs strikingly from that of Joe Biden," he stressed.

Lavrov also drew attention to the fact that among the alleged reasons cited in the law for Russia’s supposed hostile foreign policy is purported interference in US presidential elections. "In other words, the very thing that Joe Biden, [44th US president] Barack Obama and their teams essentially pinned on Donald Trump as the explanation for how he was elected in his first term. It turns out that the Trump administration supported this by extending the law and thereby tacitly agreeing with claims that Russia allegedly interfered in the presidential elections. Yet President Donald Trump continues to publicly refute this every other day," the Russian foreign minister said.