A top Kremlin spokesman warned on Friday that Russia will respond to the European Union’s decision to transfer the proceeds of frozen Russian assets to Ukraine.
There will be no immediate response, but Russia will consider its next steps in response, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
“But of course such steps by the European Commission will not go unanswered,” he said.
The European Commission has released €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) in interest income from Russian assets frozen by the EU, the first time the bloc has done so.
The money is to be used for the defence of Ukraine against the ongoing Russian invasion and the country’s reconstruction, wrote European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
According to the commission, around €210 billion in assets belonging to the Russian central bank have been frozen in the EU in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
The Brussels-based financial institution Euroclear recently announced that it had collected around €4.4 billion in interest on those assets in 2023.
