Chairman of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin (Photo: Russian State Duma).
Mr Volodin said Moscow would retaliate in a way that would make the EU pay more if it moved against Russian assets, many of which are held in Belgium.
“Some European politicians , led by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, have once again started talking about stealing our country’s frozen funds to further militarize Kiev,” Volodin said in a statement on Telegram.
“Such a decision would require a proportionate response from the Russian Federation. In that case, much more assets belonging to unfriendly countries would be seized than our frozen funds in Europe,” he said.
Ms von der Leyen said on 27 October that the European Commission was studying a proposal to pool part of the profits from frozen Russian state assets to help Ukraine and its post-conflict reconstruction.
According to her, the value of frozen Russian state assets is 211 billion euros ($223.15 billion). She recalled that the EU had decided that Russia must pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Mr Volodin pointed out that EU politicians are considering the move to "keep their seats and because of the bad financial situation they have put their countries in".
After the conflict broke out, the US and its Western allies imposed a number of sanctions on Russia, including asset freezes.
This Russian asset could generate an estimated billions of dollars a year for Ukraine’s reconstruction, but there are legal and procedural hurdles to implementing this goal, as well as concerns that it would undermine the EU’s credibility.
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