Russia Warns Of Seizing British Property Over Ukraine Funding From Frozen Russian Assets

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Around 30 Western leaders held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Paris on Thursday, focusing on potential security guarantees for Kyiv in the event of a peace deal with Russia. The meeting, described as a“coalition of the willing,” included leaders from Europe, Australia, Japan, and Canada, while some neighboring nations joined by video-link.

The discussions aim to secure US backing for a framework that could help end the war, now in its third year.

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev lashed out at the United Kingdom over its decision to use frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine's defense.

“British thieves transferred Russian money to neo-Nazis. Consequences? Britain committed an offence,” Medvedev wrote on Telegram.

Warning of retaliation

Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, warned that Moscow could seize British property in Russia in retaliation.

“Given that the money cannot be recovered in court for obvious reasons, our country has only one way to return the valuables: return it in kind,” he said, threatening to confiscate“the valuables of the British Crown.”

Medvedev warned that Russia would retaliate against“any illegal seizure of frozen Russian funds or profits” by targeting“the valuables of the British Crown,” including British-owned property in Russia.

He also called UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy“the English idiot” and hinted at the possibility of further Russian land seizures in Ukraine.

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Russia's Foreign Ministry reiterated that Moscow will not accept any Western military presence in Ukraine under a peace deal.

“Russia does not intend to discuss unacceptable foreign intervention in Ukraine in any form whatsoever,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said. She accused Western nations of using Ukraine as a“testing ground for their military developments.”

Zakharova further warned that proposed protections for Kyiv“are not security guarantees for Ukraine, they are guarantees of threat to the European continent.”

NATO, Kyiv weigh options

Despite Moscow's objections, NATO leaders and the Ukrainian government are still discussing the possibility of incorporating Western forces into a broader package of security guarantees. Kyiv has argued that credible protections are essential to facilitate any U.-brokered peace deal with Russia.

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