Russian officials threatened the West on Sunday with a “severe” response in the event that frozen Russian assets are confiscated, promising “endless” legal challenges and tit-for-tat measures.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia would never cede territories seized from Ukraine in exchange for the return of frozen assets.
“Our motherland is not for sale,” Zakharova wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
“An Russian assets must remain untouched because otherwise there will be a severe response to Western thievery. Many in the West have already understood this. Alas, not everyone.”
Reacting to Russia’s conflict in Ukraine, the United States and its allies imposed restrictions on dealings with Russia’s central bank and finance ministry. They also froze approximately $300 billion worth of Russian sovereign assets in Western nations, primarily in European rather than American financial institutions.
In a distinct statement, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov remarked that there remains a significant amount of Western capital in Russia, which could become the focus of Moscow’s retaliatory actions.
“The prospects for legal challenges (against the confiscation of Russian assets) will be wide open,” he said. “Russia will take advantage of those and will endlessly defend its interests.”