If US Goes Ahead With Seizure of Russian Assets, Its Fiscal Reputation Will Suffer, Kremlin Says

The United States will be made to answer for any confiscation of Russian assets frozen in US banks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

"As for the legislation on the confiscation of Russian assets, we still need to sort out the details...If this is really the case, America will have to answer for it, and here there are unlikely to be any time limits, and we will do it in a way that best suits our interests," Peskov said Saturday, commenting on the passage of House legislation approving the confiscation of Russian assets and their possible transfer to Kiev, and new US aid to Ukraine.

Peskov warned that the confiscation of Russian assets by Washington would cause "irreparable" harm to America's "image" in financial circles, "forcing" investors "to save their funds, because the principle of the inviolability of private property will be violated, especially state property."

Roughly $300 billion in Russian assets were trapped abroad and frozen in the US and in European countries in February 2022 after the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis into a full-blown Russia-NATO proxy war. An estimated $6 billion+ of these funds are sitting in US banks, with the majority of the money stuck in German, French and Belgian financial institutions.

As far as the approval of $61 billion in new US assistance to Ukraine is concerned, Peskov suggested it will "ruin Ukraine" and result in more Ukrainian deaths in the proxy war with Russia.

"The decision to provide assistance to Ukraine was expected and predictable. This will further enrich the United States of America and further ruin Ukraine, resulting in more dead Ukrainians through the fault of the Kiev regime," the presidential spokesman said.

Russia's Special Operation in Ukraine

Zelensky Says Ukraine Will Retreat 'Step by Step' If US Stops Aid to Country

30 March, 09:02

Of the nearly $61 billion in aid approved Saturday, $23.3 billion is provided for the replenishment of defense articles and services provided to Ukraine, $13.8 billion for the procurement of advanced weapons systems, and $11.3 billion for US military operations in the region.

Aggravation of Global Crises

Commenting on the US legislation, which also included new assistance to Israel and Taiwan, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said this money is designed to "aggravate" global crises.

"The allocation of military assistance by the United States to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan will aggravate global crises. Assistance to the Kiev regime constitutes direct sponsorship of terrorist activities. Assistance to Taiwan constitutes interference in China's internal affairs. Assistance to Israel is a direct path to escalating [what is already] an unprecedented escalation in the region," Zakharova said.

The legislation which passed the House Saturday will now head to the Senate for approval. The House's approval of nearly $100 billion in combined aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan ends a six-month deadlock in Congress over spending priorities, with a group of hardline conservative House Republicans demanding that the Biden administration commit more resources and attention to the crisis at the US' southern border with Mexico instead of frittering them away on foreign crises and wars.