The Russian government has vowed on Thursday to respond symmetrically to sanctions by Western countries, which include confiscating the proceeds from frozen Russian assets, a measure applied by Ukraine’s partners to make up for the damage caused by the invasion, which has been going on for more than two and a half years.
“If Western countries began to use the proceeds from Russia’s frozen gold and foreign exchange reserves, we will do exactly the same,” Finance Minister Anton Siluanov warned in statements to Russian television.
Siluanov said that they have already frozen the accounts of “hostile companies” and that they used the proceeds from those assets to meet the demands of the national economy and other needs of Russian institutions.
Siluanov’s statements came after the State Duma approved the budget for the period 2025-2027 in the first reading.
The transfer of frozen Russian assets, mainly in the European Union, to Ukraine has been another point of friction between kyiv’s partners due to the risk it could pose to the international financial system.
This week, the European Parliament finally approved an extraordinary loan to Ukraine of up to 35 billion euros — as part of a broader pact agreed by the G7 that is expected to provide a total of 45 billion euros — which it hopes to recover with the income from these frozen Russian assets.
