Moscow will give ‘symmetrical' response, says minister Anton Siluanov as call to seize frozen Russian assets gets louder
RIA Novosti news service published on Monday. RIA reported that Siluanov’s answer was in response to a question on Russia’s frozen foreign reserves. The group of seven (G-7) nations should be “bolder" in seizing frozen Russian assets, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in an article published on Sunday.
Sweeping international sanctions, imposed after Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, blocked an array of assets abroad including about $300 billion owned by the Bank of Russia. A campaign by politicians and activists to take those assets and send the proceeds to Kyiv is gaining momentum. French President Emmanuel Macron is hosting a meeting in Paris on Monday to discuss support for Ukraine, at which the subject of asset seizures could be raised.
Siluanov also said that other countries are drawing their own conclusions from the freezing of Russian assets. “The Chinese are reducing their participation in American securities — this is a consequence of what is happening," he said. “The reliability of the dollar and euro has been undermined." Citing the Bank of Russia, the Interfax news service reported that Russia had blocked funds held by non-residents from countries it considered “unfriendly" in special C accounts after the war began.
Those accounts contained more than 280 billion rubles ($3 billion) as of the beginning of November 2022. According to an Interfax report last June, the total had risen to nearly 600 billion rubles by the end of 2022. Bank of Russia governor Elvira Nabiullina said in February that funds have gradually accumulated in C accounts, mainly through payments of dividends, coupons, and the debt on bonds.
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