Kremlin warns Europe of ‘serious consequences’ if Russian assets are seized

The Kremlin has warned European leaders that Russia would pursue any individual or country that steals its money and cautioned that the theft of Russian assets would badly rebound on European depositories and investments.

"We are talking about plans for the illegal seizure of Russian property. In Russian, we call that simply theft," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.

Peskov said that if anyone stole or misappropriated Russia's assets - or income from those assets - then "the persons involved will be prosecuted in one way or another, they will all be called to account."

He said any countries involved would also be pursued. "These are additional steps towards the complete destruction of trust in the principle of the inviolability of property," Peskov said.

"The boomerang will very seriously hit those who are the main depositories, countries that are interested in investment attractiveness," he said.

The Kremlin has repeatedly said that attempting to take its assets will undermine confidence in the central banking system, in the euro as a currency, and in the perception of the safety of ownership and property rights in Europe.

Efforts to reach an agreement

The European Union is mulling a proposal to use Russian assets frozen in Europe to fund a loan of 140 billion euros ($164.37 billion) to Ukraine.

There are some $300 billion in frozen Russian assets, 210 billion euros of which are held in Europe, of which 185 billion euros is in Euroclear, a Brussels-based central securities depository; about 176 billion euros of that has become cash as the securities mature.

European Union's top diplomat Kaja Kallas said on Wednesday that even though not all member states are supporting the plan to use Russian assets to finance the Ukraine reparation loan, the EU was working as fast as possible to reach an agreement.

She insisted on the need to use the seized Russian assets to finance the war reparations to be paid ultimately to Ukraine.

"If we don't take these (Russian) assets into account then it is on our taxpayers, that's for sure," she told reporters in Copenhagen.