Russia Warns Europe: Seize Our Assets, Face Retaliation

On Tuesday, Russia’s ally and president of the Russian upper house of parliament, Valentina Matviyenko, warned Europe that Russia has a law in place to retaliate if the West seizes almost $300 billion of Russian assets to help Ukraine. This warning comes after the US and its allies banned transactions with Russia’s central bank and finance ministry, freezing roughly $300 billion of Russian assets in the West following Putin’s sending of troops to Ukraine in 2022.

The US is considering seizing assets to aid Ukraine, although some bankers and European officials are concerned about setting a dangerous precedent. The American House of Representatives passed a law on Saturday with a provision allowing for the seizure of Russian property, even though the majority of Russian assets are in Europe, not the US.

Matviyenko emphasized that if European countries seize Russian property, they will lose more than Russia. She also stated that Russia has prepared a bill with retaliatory measures that they are ready to consider immediately. The details of Russia’s response to property seizure are still being discussed in the West.

Putin has characterized the West’s actions as an economic war against Russia, arguing that the Russian economy, which grew by 3.6 percent last year, is resilient to Western sanctions. The Kremlin reiterated that any seizure of its assets would undermine confidence in the US dollar and euro, deter global investment, and go against free market principles.