MINSK, 13 February (BelTA) - Moscow will give a very tough response to the West's seizure of Russian assets, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said on the air of a news channel, TASS reported.
"Given that our country has categorized this as theft, the attitude will be appropriate, as to thieves. Not as to political manipulators or spin doctors who have outplayed their hand, but as to thieves," the diplomat said.
Maria Zakharova pointed out that the West wants to confiscate Russian assets to compensate for the heavy costs of “running the bloody Ukrainian conflict and maintaining the Kiev regime," she added.
Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina said earlier that freezing and confiscation of Russian assets by the West "will set a negative precedent for the development of the global financial system”. Russian president spokesman Dmitry Peskov, for his part, said that Moscow will legally pursue all those who are involved in such decisions, in decision-making and their implementation. Russia will defend its interests.”
On 12 February, the EU Council adopted a resolution to provide a legal basis for using profits from Russia’s frozen assets to help Ukraine.
