The European Commission on Thursday pushed back against Russia’s threats to seize European firms’ assets, arguing that Moscow’s floated retaliation against the EU’s planned “reparation loan” to Kyiv underscores the effectiveness of the bloc’s sanctions policy.
“We have seen indications that Russia indeed plans to nationalise and sell off foreign-owned assets,” Commission spokesperson Balazs Ujvari said. “This shows very clearly one thing…: our sanctions are working very well against Russia.”
Ujvari added that the impact of Brussels’ restrictive measures “will be even bigger” once the bloc’s 19th sanctions package on Moscow is adopted, which EU diplomats expect to happen later this month.
His comments came a day after Bloomberg reported that Moscow would “swiftly” sell foreign assets in Russia “in retaliation for any European moves to seize Russian holdings abroad”.
The report, citing a person close to the Kremlin, comes amid growing efforts by Brussels to use hundreds of billions of euros’ worth of immobilised Russian central bank assets held in the EU to provide a special zero-interest loan to Kyiv.
Moscow claims that the plan, discussed by EU leaders in Copenhagen yesterday, is tantamount to confiscation – a claim rejected by the Commission and most EU member states.
(aw)