Russia calls EU asset freeze a threat to Ukraine peace, vows retaliation

Tensions between Moscow and Brussels escalated sharply over the weekend, as Russia decried the European Union’s decision to indefinitely freeze Russian sovereign assets as a deliberate strike against peace efforts in Ukraine. Moscow promised swift retaliatory measures, warning that the EU’s move risks not only the financial stability of its own citizens but also its standing on the global stage.

On Friday, the European Union Council announced a temporary prohibition on transfers of Central Bank of Russia assets immobilized in the EU back to Russia, citing urgent measures to shield the Union’s economy. But Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova dismissed the decision as a political gambit aimed at undermining peace initiatives, including those championed by former US President Donald Trump. “The timing is no accident,” she said, emphasizing that the burden of Brussels’ ambitions will ultimately fall on ordinary EU citizens.

Zakharova detailed Moscow’s immediate responses, noting that the Bank of Russia has filed a lawsuit against Euroclear in the Moscow Arbitration Court to recover losses, while cautioning that any attempt to dispose of Russian sovereign assets without consent — whether freezing, seizing, or rebranding them as reparations — violates international law. She criticized the EU’s approach as “stripped of rational logic” and likened it to a “theatre of the absurd,” warning that such policies have already strained the European economy.

The backdrop to this diplomatic storm was further darkened by escalating hostilities on the ground. Ukrainian forces launched a drone attack inside Russian territory, killing two people, while leaving millions across Ukraine without power. The strikes underscored the fragility of any ceasefire and the growing toll of the conflict, which has entangled civilians, militaries, and international diplomacy in a web of escalating reprisals.

With Euroclear reportedly holding around €200 billion in Russian assets, and total Russian holdings abroad estimated at $500–800 billion, Moscow’s officials, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, have promised a tough response that could include the confiscation of Western government and private assets. “Such misdemeanours in international relations do not go without consequences,” Zakharova warned, as the specter of further tit-for-tat measures looms over Europe and beyond.

The twin crises — financial and military — paint a stark picture of a conflict that has long since spilled beyond Ukrainian borders, drawing the global community into a tense dance of sanctions, lawsuits, and deadly attacks.

With PTI inputs