Any attempts by the EU to tap into the frozen assets of the Russian central bank would be illegal under international law, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.
Earlier this week, the Russian central bank initiated legal proceedings against Euroclear, a Belgian-based depository that holds the bulk of Russia’s frozen assets, as Ukraine’s European backers debate how to repurpose them to finance Kiev.
“Actions against sovereign assets taken without Russia’s consent – whether indefinite immobilization, confiscation, or attempts to portray them as a so-called reparations loan – are entirely illegal under international law,” Zakharova told reporters at a briefing on Saturday.
“No matter what pseudo-legal tricks Brussels employs to justify it, this is blatant theft.”
Zakharova argued that, apart from “funding the failed Ukrainian project,” the EU is also seeking to use the assets to bolster its own economy, which has been damaged by sanctions targeting Russia’s trade with the West.
Hungary and Slovakia have condemned the EU for invoking its rarely used emergency powers to circumvent potential vetoes from individual member states and make the asset freeze indefinite. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban accused the “Brussels dictatorship” of “systematically raping European law.”
Politico reported earlier this week that Italy, Belgium, Bulgaria, and Malta asked the European Commission to explore options for providing loans to Kiev other than seizing Russian assets. Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever has warned that outright confiscation of the assets would undermine trust in the EU financial system, trigger capital flight, and expose Belgium to legal risks.