“Although the Western side has not yet reached the point of its implementation in practical terms, of course that we will take measures if such threats, including similar ones, be concreted,” he stressed.

The diplomat noted that Moscow is open to dialogue on the exchange of frozen assets. “We do not expect any sensible action or step from Western opponents that demonstrates even a minimum understanding of how counterproductive the very discussion of this issue is,” he added.

After the start of the operation in Ukraine, the European Union and the G7 member countries froze almost half of Russian foreign exchange reserves, which amounted to about 300 billion euros. Around 200 billion euros are in the hands of the European Union, mainly in the accounts of the Belgian Euroclear.

Late in October, the company reported having earned around three billion euros in interest from investing in sanctioned Russian assets in nine months of 2023.

Last year the European Commission proposed storing the unexpected profits, generated in this way, in separate accounts pending further proposals. It is assumed that this money may be transferred to Ukraine.

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