RT
Moscow could downgrade diplomatic relations with Washington if the US expropriates frozen Russian assets, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov warned on Thursday.
The US and its allies have frozen around $300 billion in Russian central bank assets as part of Ukraine-related sanctions, most of which are being held in the EU.
Washington has long advocated for confiscating the funds, so that the money would then be handed over to Kiev for its war effort against Russia. The latest push came on Saturday, after the US House of Representatives approved a bill authorizing the confiscation of Russian money.
The so-called REPO Act, which lawmakers in Washington passed last weekend along with a $61 billion military aid package for Ukraine, authorized the US president to confiscate Russian funds held in American banks and hand them over to Kiev. More than $6 billion of the $300 billion in frozen Russian assets is sitting in US banks. US Senator Rand Paul, who is skeptical of the proposal, warned earlier this year that the move would be “an act of economic war.”
Officials in several Western nations, notably the US and the UK, have insisted on the outright confiscation of Russian assets despite widespread concerns that this would have no legal basis. In contrast, the EU has been reluctant to do so, reportedly fearing Russian retaliation. EU nations, which are holding the lion’s share of the frozen funds, are reportedly concerned that expropriating the money would destabilize the euro.
No comments:
Post a Comment