Kremlin Says Europe Wants To Steal Russian Money To Support 'Kyiv War Engine'

Dmitry Peskov. (Source: Kremlin)

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday Europe only wanted to steal frozen Russian assets and use them to support Kyiv's 'war engine'.

Speaking ahead of the Russia-India summit in New Delhi, Peskov said Europe was trying to find ways to provide financial resources for Ukraine to continue the conflict.

"They (Europe) are discussing the possibility of stealing Russian assets that are still blocked in Europe. The amount is more than 200 billion dollars," Peskov said, launching TASS (2/12).

The spokesman for the Russian presidency emphasized that the asset freeze was illegal.

However, Europe is now trying to steal the funds and uses them to support the Kyiv regime's "military engine," Peskov added.

It is known, when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, nearly 300 billion euros in Moscow assets, including bank accounts, securities, real estate to cruise ships, were abroad and frozen due to Western sanctions, quoted from DW.

Although many countries hold these assets, including the United States, Canada, Britain, and Japan, most of these assets are in EU member states, and the largest is in Belgium.

Euroclear, Brussels-based financial storage agency, holds about 180 billion euros of Russian assets frozen.

Since the war began, Europe has discussed whether and how to use Russian assets to make Russia pay for the war it has started.

Such the latest discussion was held in October, when Belgium vetoed a "reparation loan" that the European Union wanted to offer Ukraine to rebuild the country.

Belgium is concerned about legal issues and that Russia will eventually ask for a refund from the country. That is why Belgium refused to join and requested that the responsibility be shared by other countries.

The European Union hopes to ease Belgium's concerns and win them over at the upcoming summit of the bloc in mid-December.

Peskov himself had previously emphasized that Moscow would not allow attempts to confiscate Russian assets without a response.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova stressed that European countries should return blocked Russian assets if they do not want to be "known as European thieves" and receive the harshest punishment for their crimes.

"Only Russia has the right to decide what will happen to the assets of the Russian Federation," Zakharova explained.

"And those holding the Russian Federation's money illegally should return it if they don't want to be known as European thieves and receive the harshest punishment for their crimes," he stressed.