Russia will respond "symmetrically" if its foreign assets are confiscated - Bloomberg

Russia will give a "symmetrical" response to any actions of the United States and its allies aimed at frozen assets abroad. This is reported with reference to the words of the Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation Anton Siluanov, UNN reports .

We also have no less frozen assets than the West,

Details

He did not specify which Western assets he was referring to, but it is likely that he was talking about Russia's frozen gold and foreign exchange reserves.

Addendum

International sanctions imposed after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 have blocked a number of assets abroad, including about $300 billion belonging to the Central Bank of Russia. The campaign by politicians and activists to seize these assets and transfer the funds to Kyiv is gaining momentum.

In turn, Russia blocked the funds of non-residents from countries it considered "unfriendly" in special "C" accounts after the outbreak of the war. As of early November 2022, these accounts held more than 280 billion rubles ($3 billion).

Since then, the CBR has not disclosed the amount of frozen assets, although last June, Russian media reported that by the end of 2022, this amount had increased to almost 600 billion rubles ($6.4 billion). Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina said in February that the funds are gradually accumulating in C accounts, mainly through dividend payments, coupons and bond repayments.

Recall

Legal experts have approved the seizure of $300 billion worth of frozen assets from the Russian central bank to compensate Ukraine for losses from the Russian invasion, as allowed by international law.