LONDON, December 14. /TASS/. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has held a telephone conversation with the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen to discuss expropriation of Russian assets, his office said in a statement.

"Their discussion focused on the ongoing work on the US-led peace plan to bring an end to the killing in Ukraine. Both agreed that this is a pivotal moment for Ukraine’s future, and that Europe will stand with them for as long as it takes to achieve a just and lasting peace. They also discussed the latest progress on mobilising frozen Russian sovereign assets," it said.

The European Commission hopes to get the EU countries at the December 18-19 summit to decide on the expropriation of 210 billion euros worth of Russian assets, of which 185 billion euros are blocked on the Euroclear site in Belgium. Belgium is resisting this decision, demanding legally binding guarantees from all EU countries that they will compensate the kingdom's financial losses from Russia's retaliatory measures.

On Friday, Starmer met with Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever to discuss the expropriation of Russian assets. Earlier, The Times reported citing sourcesthat London is ready to allocate 8 billion pounds ($10.6 billion) to Kiev at the expense of Russian assets.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the confiscation being discussed in Europe would be an act of theft. Russian Justice Minister Konstantin Chuichenko told TASS that the country's leadership has already been presented with options for responding to the possible seizure of Russian assets by Western countries. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow would not leave such actions unanswered.