Russian Foreign Ministry: Our Response to the West's Seizure of Assets Will Be "Harsh"

The Russian news agency TASS reported today, Tuesday, that Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova stated that Russia's response to the Western seizure of the country's assets will be "harsh." Zakharova said, "The stance towards the West will be the same as towards thieves." The United States and its allies have banned transactions with the Russian central bank and the Russian Ministry of Finance following President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, resulting in approximately $300 billion of Russian sovereign assets being frozen in the West. The European Union announced on Monday that it has adopted legislation to seize profits from the frozen Russian central bank assets, marking the first tangible step towards the bloc's goal of using the money to fund the reconstruction of Ukraine. Zakharova added, "Since our country has classified this as theft, the stance will be towards thieves. Not as political manipulators, nor as technicians who overestimated themselves, but as thieves." Russia states that if its properties are seized, it will also confiscate American, European, and other assets.