Kremlin says Russia will challenge confiscation of frozen assets in West

ISTANBUL

The Kremlin on Wednesday said Russia will challenge the confiscation of its frozen assets in the West, reacting to a decision in the US to transfer them to Ukraine, where Moscow launched a "special military operation in February 2022.

“We have been observing these trends for a long time, both in the US and EU. Indeed, this matter is consistently leading to illegally continuing the confiscation of our holdings,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a press briefing in Moscow.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee in the US Congress approved a bill authorizing Secretary of State Antony Blinken to provide additional assistance to Ukraine using Russian assets.

Peskov called the US decision “illegal” and “contrary to all possible rules.”

“This is illegal, it is contrary to all possible rules, this will, of course, be contested, and contested indefinitely, by our country. This will entail very serious judicial and legal costs for those who make such decisions and who take advantage of such decisions,” Peskov said.

He added that Moscow will also work on response measures, which “best suit our interests."

Western countries have frozen assets from the Russian Central Bank worth roughly $300 billion, and have argued to use those funds to rebuild Ukraine.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​