Russia's nearly $300 billion in foreign exchange reserves have been frozen by Western countries since March 2022. The EU is seeking to legalize the exploitation of profits from the money, but Moscow warned that any such move would constitute theft.
Russian officials have repeatedly said that the seizure of state and private assets is an act that goes against all the principles of a free market.
RT reported that Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has warned of a completely symmetrical reaction, noting that there is enough assets in class C accounts - specialized bank accounts in rubles. One of these includes the obligation to reserve dividends for partners from unfriendly countries (those that support sanctions).
Minister Siluanov added that all those assets were frozen, in no small quantity and that the money from their use was very significant.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also agreed with the Finance Minister, saying Russia would challenge any seizure in court.
According to Mr. Peskov, the seizure of Russian assets by Western countries is illegal and extremely dangerous for the global financial system and the world economy.
According to official estimates, the central bank's reserves have fallen 8.4% in 2022 after assets were frozen in the G7, EU and Australia.
Notably, 210 billion euros ($232 billion) of Russia's reserves are believed to be in the EU. Of these, 191 billion euros are believed to be in Belgium, 19 billion euros in France and 7.8 billion euros in Switzerland - a non-EU country.
The US is said to have frozen about $5 billion in Russian state assets.
The EU aims to raise 15 billion euros to Ukraine from the interest on frozen Russian assets, subject to the consensus of all member states.
In July, the EU's clearinghouse Euroclear revealed that of the 2.28 billion euros earned in the first half of 2023, more than 1.7 billion euros was the profit from frozen Russian assets.
Euroclear is said to hold 196.6 billion euros worth of Russian money, much of which is owned by the Russian central bank.
About 5 million Russian private investors have their accounts in international financial institutions frozen. The value of frozen stocks in the portfolios of private investors reached 3.4 billion USD as of July last year.
Western countries have been considering for months how to seize and donate the money to Ukraine, despite repeated warnings that such measures could endanger the reputation of the Western financial and monetary system.
EU policymakers have discussed applying a surprise tax on profits generated from fixed funds, which is estimated to generate a profit of around €3 billion.
According to Reuters, the G7 leaders are expected to discuss a plan to allow the seizure of frozen Russian assets when they meet in February.
Meanwhile, some EU member states are against the idea of using frozen Russian capital. According to a recent article in the Financial Times, France, Germany and Italy are still extremely cautious about the idea. Some EU officials pect to be punished by Russia if the countrys money is seized.
The European Central Bank (ECB) has also warned against the measure, stressing that using frozen money could endanger the reputation of the euro.
