(Reuters) – Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that the U.S. transfer to Ukraine of $20 billion backed by frozen Russian assets was “simply robbery” and suggested Moscow could seize Western assets on its territory “to enhance industrial potential”.
“The provision by the U.S. Treasury Department…of $20 billion using income from operations of ‘frozen’ Russian sovereign assets essentially stolen by the G7 countries is simply robbery,” a statement on the ministry website said.
The statement said U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration was trying “in a Russophobic frenzy to introduce as many anti-Russian sanctions as possible before it transfers power to D. Trump’s team on January 20th”.
“No pseudo-legal machinations, abundantly seasoned with hypocrisy and double standards will go unanswered,” the statement said.
“Russia possesses sufficient capabilities and levers for a retaliatory seizure of Western assets within its jurisdiction, which in such a case would be used to enhance industrial potential and implement infrastructure projects in Russian regions.”
The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday said it transferred the $20 billion U.S. portion of a $50 billion G7 loan for Ukraine to a World Bank intermediary fund for economic and financial aid to Kyiv.
The Treasury Department said the action makes good on its October commitment to match the European Union’s commitment to provide $20 billion in aid backed by frozen Russian sovereign assets alongside smaller loans from Britain, Canada and Japan to help the Eastern European nation fight Russia’s 33-month-old invasion.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by David Gregorio)
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