NATO Has Rattled Putin With Threat To Give Ukraine "Frozen" Russian Assets

The intensity of Putin's response suggests this threat has got his full attention - and that he recognizes the seriousness of the potential action both as detrimental to Russia's economy and as a boon to Ukraine, especially its military. 

Russia has threatened to retaliate by cutting diplomatic relations (yawn) or seizing European investments in Siberian energy projects. Neither threat appears terribly concerning to anyone. JL

Al-Jazeera reports:

Moscow could sever diplomatic relations with the United States should it confiscate Russian assets frozen under sanctions and the assets to Ukraine. Western countries are discussing the confiscation of more than $1bn in Russian asset. Prosecutors in Germany said this week they were applying to confiscate more than 720 million euros ($790m) from the Frankfurt bank account of a Russian financial institution. Russia also promised to respond in kind should the European Union go ahead with a plan to ring-fence profits generated from frozen assets and hand them to Ukraine.

Russia has warned that it will react robustly to Western moves to seize its assets or deploy missiles.

Moscow could sever diplomatic relations with the United States should it confiscate Russian assets frozen under sanctions, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Friday. Officials also said the Kremlin would respond to the deployment of missiles in Europe or Asia, even as Ukraine reported that Russia had unleashed another barrage of attack drones overnight.

 

Ryabkov threatened that Moscow could cut diplomatic ties with Washington should it hand frozen Russian assets to Kyiv, which is desperate for funds, according to the Russian state news agency Interfax.

Western countries are discussing the confiscation of more than $1bn in Russian assets frozen due to sanctions over the war in Ukraine.

The US “must not act under an illusion … that Russia is clinging with both hands to diplomatic relations with that country”, the official said.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov later said at a media briefing that countries who seize Russian assets would never be left in peace and Russia would look at what Western assets it could seize in retaliation.

Some officials in US political circles have suggested that $300bn of funds from Russian Central Bank reserves frozen in February 2022 to put pressure on Moscow to withdraw from Ukraine be handed to Kyiv.

Peskov said any such seizure would deal a serious blow to the international financial system and Russia would defend its rights in the courts and through other means.

On Thursday, Russia promised to respond in kind should the European Union go ahead with a plan to ring-fence profits generated from frozen assets and hand them to Ukraine.

Prosecutors in Germany said this week that they were applying to confiscate more than 720 million euros ($790m) from the Frankfurt bank account of a Russian financial institution.

 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called German leaders “a thieving lot” that have been taking lessons from Washington.

“They used to be thieving in the political sense – breaking agreements, cheating someone – but now they are thieving in the direct sense,” he said.

President Vladimir Putin this week ordered two European concerns, Wintershall Dea and OMV, be stripped of multibillion-dollar stakes in gas projects in the Russian Arctic.

‘War machine’

The West is seeking to tighten its sanctions against Russia as it continues to pummel Ukraine.

US President Joe Biden will sign an executive order allowing Washington to impose sanctions on financial institutions that help Russia evade sanctions, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Friday.

The measure will also allow Washington to ban products originating in Russia but processed in third countries, such as seafood and diamonds, Yellen said in a statement.

“Today we are taking steps to level new and powerful tools against Russia’s war machine,” Yellen said. “And we will not hesitate to use the new tools provided by this authority to take decisive and surgical action against financial institutions that facilitate the supply of Russia’s war machine.”

Russia’s concerns extend beyond the business and financial sectors. Ryabkov also threatened that Russia is ready to swiftly respond in kind to any deployment by the US of short- and medium-range missiles in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.