The embassy said plans to transfer Russian assets to Ukraine would discredit the US

Statements by US administration officials about their intention to transfer frozen Russian assets to Ukraine only discredit the US and undermine confidence in the US and international financial system, as well as in the dollar. About it says in a statement from the Russian embassy in the United States.

“There is an ignorance not only of generally accepted legal norms, but also of basic, apparently, erroneously seemed unshakable, American values. First of all, it is about protecting the rights of private property,” the diplomatic mission noted.

The embassy added that the White House “does not hesitate to persuade Themis” to suit its own interests. The diplomatic mission called the initiatives to seize the assets of Russian entrepreneurs dangerous, adding that they “discredit the United States as the notorious” stronghold “of free enterprise.”

The day before, January 19, the head of the US Department of Justice working group on the identification and arrest of Russian assets subject to US sanctions, Andrew Adams declaredthat Washington intends to seize the assets of Russian citizens, against whom sanctions have been imposed, in favor of Ukraine.

In June 2022, the international group for blocking Russian assets reported that in 100 days of work it froze the assets of Russians under sanctions in the amount of more than $30 billion. In addition, the assets of the Central Bank turned out to be blocked – about $300 billion.

US Senate in December 2022 accepted the draft federal budget for fiscal year 2023 in the amount of $1.66 trillion, which includes an amendment on the withdrawal of Russian assets in favor of Ukraine. This amendment was made by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. It was about the possibility of transferring the frozen assets of Russian businessmen and companies for humanitarian and military assistance to Ukraine.

In January 2023, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova statedthat Moscow is considering all existing legal mechanisms for regaining access to its frozen assets and is ready, if necessary, to apply separate “compensatory measures”. She called the initiatives to seize Russian assets “a gross encroachment on sovereign property” and warned of retaliatory measures.