MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Kremlin warned European leaders on Wednesday that Russia would pursue any individual or country which stole its money and cautioned that the theft of Russian assets would badly rebound on European depositories and investment.
The European Union is mulling a proposal to use Russian assets frozen in Europe to fund a loan of 140 billion euros ($164.37 billion) to Ukraine.
There are some $300 billion in frozen Russian assets, 210 billion euros of which is held in Europe, of which 185 billion euros is in Euroclear, a Brussels-based central securities depository; about 176 billion euros of that has become cash as the securities mature.
“We are talking about plans for the illegal seizure of Russian property. In Russian, we call that simply theft,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Peskov said that if anyone stole or misappropriated Russia’s assets – or income from those assets – then “the persons involved will be prosecuted in one way or another, they will all be called to account.”
He said any countries involved would also be pursued.
The Kremlin has repeatedly said that attempting to take its assets will undermine confidence in the central banking system, in the euro as a currency, and in the perception of the safety of ownership and property rights in Europe.
“These are additional steps towards the complete destruction of trust in the principle of the inviolability of property,” Peskov said.
“The boomerang will very seriously hit those who are the main depositories, countries that are interested in investment attractiveness,” he said.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Guy FaulconbridgeEditing by Andrew Osborn)
