MOSCOW: Moscow warned that a US decision to use frozen Russian assets for Ukraine will cause “irreparable damage” to America’s image, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Saturday.
In response to a US decision to use the assets to benefit Ukraine, Peskov said the confiscation would also scare off Russian investors.
Peskov evaluated for state news agency, TASS, the US House of Representatives’ approval Saturday of the bill proposing the use of frozen Russian assets.
The US House approved a bill providing $95 billion in aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, and allowing the use of frozen Russian assets for Ukraine.
Responding to questions about how Moscow would retaliate to the approved bill, Peskov said: “If this is really the case, then the US will have to answer for it. And there are unlikely to be any time restrictions. And we will do this in a way that best suits its interests.”
“As for the law on the confiscation of Russian assets, the details still need to be sorted out. In any case, if we are really talking about the confiscation of our assets, this will cause irreparable damage to the image of the United States of America, this will force many investors in this country to save their funds, because the steadfastness private property will be violated, especially state property,” he said.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova also commented on the House bill via social media and said the law, which includes aid to Ukraine, would worsen crises worldwide. “Aid to Ukraine supports terrorism directly, military aid to Taiwan interferes with China’s internal affairs, and aid to Israel means increasing unprecedented tensions in the region,” she said.
In a statement Saturday on Telegram, Zakharova said the allocation of military assistance by the US to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan will aggravate the global crisis. Military assistance to the Kyiv regime is a direct sponsorship of terrorist activities. Taiwan is an interference in the internal affairs of China and Israel will be a direct path to the escalation of an unprecedented aggravation in the region.
In a separate statement, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said: “We, of course, will win, despite the 61 billion bloody dollars that will mainly go down the throat of their insatiable military-industrial complex. Strength and Truth are behind us.”