Russia says US stealing its money

On Tuesday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmigal announced that the US had transferred the first installment of a $20 billion loan backed by interest earned from Russia’s immobilized assets. Following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, the US and its allies froze an estimated $300 billion worth of funds belonging to the Russian central bank.

In a post on X, Shmigal stated that Kiev expects that “all sovereign Russian assets will be confiscated and used to rebuild Ukraine”.

Reacting to the news on Wednesday, Peskov stated that “speaking in plain Russian, this money was stolen from us”, and added that Moscow’s assets were blocked “absolutely illegally,” against all norms and rules.

The spokesman added that Washington’s transfer of $1 billion to Kiev could in the future become the basis for legal proceedings and stressed that Russia intends to use “all [legal] possibilities” to protect its property and rights.

Of the $300 billion immobilized Russian assets, around $213 billion are currently held in the Brussels-based clearinghouse Euroclear. Last week, Polish President Andrzej Duda proposed at a meeting of EU leaders to use all of these assets to fund Ukraine, particularly if US President-elect Donald Trump chooses to slash Washington’s contributions to Kiev’s war chest.

The proposal was reportedly resisted by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was “exasperated” and became “irate” at Duda, arguing that such a move would undermine the stability of EU financial markets, according to the Financial Times.

The use of Russian assets to fund Kiev has previously also been criticized by other EU nations, including France and Italy, which have raised concerns that such a step would undermine the stability of the euro.

Moscow has repeatedly accused the West of “stealing” its money and has warned that tapping these funds would be illegal, and would set a dangerous precedent.

Last month, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov also warned that Moscow would respond in kind.

“We have also frozen the resources of Western investors, Western financial market participants and companies. The income from these assets will also be used,” the official said.