MOSCOW, June 24. /TASS/. Proceeds from frozen Russian assets that the West is transferring to Ukraine are still stolen funds, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the Primakov Readings forum.

"Over four years, a total of 45 bln euros have been transferred. They say that this does not come from that portion of the gold and foreign exchange reserves, not from that part of the Central Bank's assets covered by the agreement, but rather from income generated in excess of the interest due to the Central Bank. But it is still stolen money," the minister stated.

"Because it is one thing when you are free to dispose of your assets and receive the interest stipulated by the agreement with Euroclear, while everything above that belongs to them. But you are still free to manage your own funds. When your assets are frozen and they tell you, ‘You sit tight for now, while we make additional profits here and hand them all over to Ukraine,’ this is a very serious matter from the standpoint of the West's attempts to convince everyone that the world order they created and that functioned through modern institutions of global governance - the IMF, the World Trade Organization - remains relevant," the minister continued.

Around 200 bln euros in Russian sovereign assets are frozen within the European Union, with the bulk of them held in accounts at the Belgium-based depository Euroclear.