Russia now has grounds to seize Western assets after the US House of Representatives passed a law allowing the potential transfer of frozen Russian assets to Ukraine, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav said Volodin, quoted by Reuters, writes BTA.
„Washington passed a law on the confiscation of Russian assets to provoke the European Union to take the same decision, which will be devastating for the European economy,” Volodin said. “Our country has every reason to take a symmetrical decision regarding foreign assets”, he added.
The Speaker of the Duma stated that of the 280 billion dollars of Russian assets frozen abroad, only 5-6 billion are in the USA, while about 224 billion dollars (210 billion euros) are in the EU.
Earlier, the American television channel NBC reported that the House of Representatives adopted the so-called “REPO Law“ (REPO Act), which allows the government of US President Joe Biden to confiscate Russian assets held in US banks and make them available for the reconstruction of Ukraine.