Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova warned Western countries not to take Russia’s assets, in a statement on Sunday.
Zakharova mentioned a report from the Wall Street Journal saying Germany wanted to keep Russia’s frozen assets untouched. They might use them later to make Russia give back some of the Ukrainian land it took.
Zakharova said Russia wouldn’t give up any land and threatened a “harsh” response if Western countries took its assets.
“I don’t know who is saying what, but we don’t give away our homeland for anything. Our assets must stay safe, or there will be a strong reaction to Western theft,” Zakharova wrote on Telegram.
Under a new U.S. law, officials can take Russian state assets in the U.S. and use them for Ukraine. At the beginning of the war, the U.S. and its friends froze about $300 billion of Russian money abroad. About $5 billion is in the U.S.
This could mean more money for Ukraine, but the U.S. might not take the assets without agreement from other important countries like the Group of Seven and the European Union.
