The EU should be able to return the frozen assets to the Russian Federation with interest

The European Union cannot just take and take away the frozen Russian assets. He must retain the ability to return them at any time, with interest, a high-ranking European source told reporters in Brussels.

“We comply with the rules. When blocking, freezing funds, you must always be able to return them as soon as the behavior (of the sanctioned – ed.) changes. That is, you must be able to return these funds with interest”– quotes the words of the RIA Novosti official.

He noted that the term “use of assets”, which is used in the EU, means the implementation of only financial resources. And in order to use them, it is necessary to find a way to earn “on these funds more than the interest plus the frozen funds themselves,” the official added.

Earlier, the European Union stated that they could not legally seize Russian frozen assets and transfer them to anyone, so they are still looking for the opportunity to “temporarily use them.”

Andrey Klishas, ​​head of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building, noted earlier that the West would sooner or later have to return all the frozen Russian assets. The actions of these countries seriously violate the 2004 UN convention. The official representative of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov promised to respond to the withdrawal of money from the Russians and their transfer to Kyiv.

Back in October 2022, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow would take action if the EU decided to confiscate Russian money. She noted that the behavior of the West in this case should be regarded as theft, and the implementation of the plan “will bury the reputation of the European Union.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking at the SPIEF, also called the freezing of foreign accounts of Russian businessmen robbery and the Middle Ages.