Moscow will confiscate EU assets if Brussels ‘steals’ frozen Russian funds

Russia will confiscate assets belonging to European Union states it deems unfriendly if the bloc “steals” frozen Russian funds in a drive to fund Ukraine, a top ally of President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday.
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said on Friday that the EU executive was working on a proposal to pool some of the profits derived from frozen Russian state assets to help Ukraine and its post-war reconstruction.
Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of the State Duma, the Russian lower house of parliament, said Moscow would retaliate in a way that would be more costly to the bloc if the EU moved against Russian assets, many of which are held in Belgium.
“Such a decision would require a symmetrical response from the Russian Federation. In that case, far more assets belonging to unfriendly countries will be confiscated than our frozen funds in Europe,” he said.