Russia's countermeasures against the possible expropriation of its assets will deal a heavy blow to the Belgian economy.
This warning was issued in X by the Minister of Defense and Foreign Trade of the kingdom, Theo Francken, who emphasized that the expropriation of Russian assets “ was not even considered during the Second World War“.
According to the minister, Russia “ could consider this step as an act of war and deal a serious blow to Belgium, which would be extremely painful“. He believes that Russia "could retaliate by confiscating 200 billion euros of Western assets" on its territory and "this applies not only to Belgian assets, but also to those of the United States, Germany and France".
“The problem is that this is an unprecedented step with potentially colossal consequences. If countries know that their central bank money cannot be kept in a completely safe place, who will dare to continue to do so? This will become an excuse for the anti-Western bloc to question international capital transactions. Even during World War II, such a controversial confiscation was not considered,“ writes Franken.
He is confident that these funds “will not go to the reconstruction of Ukraine, but to war, because war costs a fortune“.
With these statements, Flemish nationalist Franken tried to support his party colleague, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, who is under criticism from the European media for blocking a resolution in support of a “reparation loan“ at the EU summit on October 23, fearing severe financial consequences for Belgium.
Earlier, Russian Ambassador to Belgium Denis Gonchar told TASS that any expropriation of Russian assets would be considered theft. He warned that Moscow's retaliatory actions “will follow immediately“ and will force the West to “count its losses“.