Russia Criticizes Using Frozen Central Bank Assets

(MENAFN) Any initiative by the European Union to access the frozen reserves of the Russian central bank would violate international law, according to Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.

Earlier in the week, the Russian central bank launched legal action against Euroclear, a depository based in Belgium that manages the majority of Russia’s frozen funds. This comes as Ukraine’s European supporters debate ways to redirect these assets to fund Kiev.

Zakharova told reporters at a Saturday briefing that “Actions against sovereign assets taken without Russia’s consent – whether indefinite immobilization, confiscation, or attempts to portray them as a so-called reparations loan – are entirely illegal under international law.” She added, “No matter what pseudo-legal tricks Brussels employs to justify it, this is blatant theft.”

She further claimed that beyond “funding the failed Ukrainian project,” the EU also intends to utilize the frozen reserves to reinforce its own economy, which has been weakened by sanctions affecting trade with Russia.

Hungary and Slovakia have criticized the EU for invoking seldom-used emergency powers to bypass possible objections from individual member nations and impose an indefinite freeze on the assets. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban denounced the “Brussels dictatorship,” accusing it of “systematically raping European law.”

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