Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that plans by Western countries to provide Ukraine with loans using the interest from frozen Russian assets abroad is a theft that will not go unpunished, Reuters and BTA reported.
Putin, speaking at a meeting of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said that the way the West is behaving towards Moscow shows that any country can fall victim to such a freeze.
„ No matter how much they embellish, theft remains theft and will not go unpunished, he declared to the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
„It is now becoming apparent to all countries, companies and sovereign wealth funds that their assets and reserves are far from secure, both in the legal and economic sense of the word. Anyone can be next in line for expropriation by the US and the West.“
Putin spoke a day after G7 leaders agreed on general guidelines on how to provide $50 billion in loans to Ukraine, using interest on Russian sovereign assets frozen since the start of Russia's invasion of the neighboring country.
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At the same time, the Russian president stated that the world has reached the point of no return in what he defined as the “collapse of the Western model of global security”. He accused Washington of undermining global security by withdrawing from arms limitation agreements.
Putin said, quoted by TASS, that Russia is interested in the ongoing dialogue on the creation of an indivisible security system – “the establishment in world affairs of a principle in which the security of some is not ensured at the expense of others“ - to be conducted including within the framework of the UN.
According to the Russian president, “the potential of BRICS will allow it to become one of the main regulatory institutions of the multipolar world over time”. He stated that his country will assist the process of the smooth inclusion of new member countries in the union.