"They took it absolutely negatively," presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, commenting on US plans to transfer part of Russian assets, blocked under sanctions, to Ukraine.
"Russia considers all cases of blocking, seizure or retention of state or private property abroad to be illegal acts," he said.
Peskov called it "nonsense" to claim that there are legal grounds for "continuing this lawlessness," RBC reports.
"Any claims that they managed to find legal grounds for the continuation of this lawlessness are legal nonsense. They will eventually lead to legal proceedings in one way or another. None of the cases of such illegal retention will be ignored… It will not be left just like that," he said.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who arrived in Kiev, said earlier that part of the assets of Russian businessmen, against whom Washington imposed sanctions, would be directed to support Ukrainian veterans. According to him, those who "contributed" to the outbreak of hostilities should be punished.
Peskov said that lawsuits over the blocked funds are already underway and some Russian entrepreneurs have already achieved success in different countries.
"Including in appealing against illegal investigative actions, in their address of conducting illegal searches," the Kremlin said.
A number of major Russian businessmen and top managers have fallen under Western sanctions. The US and the EU have already stated that they are considering the possibility of using their frozen property to help Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin compared this practice to theft.
Washington has already confiscated the assets of Konstantin Malofeev, the founder of the “Tsargrad TV” channel, and the US Attorney General has allowed them to be transferred to Kiev. The Russian Foreign Ministry called it "robbery for political reasons."
The EU countries have not reached an agreement on the withdrawal of frozen Russian assets. As the Dutch government pointed out, the main obstacles are legal issues and objections from Germany.
Many Russian entrepreneurs decided to challenge the EU sanctions, including Alisher Usmanov, Mikhail Fridman, Peter Aven, Gennady Timchenko, Dmitry Pumpyansky, Mikhail Gutsiriev, Andrey Melnichenko and others. At the moment, only one businessman, the former CEO of the online retailer Ozon Alexander Shulgin, has managed to achieve the abolition of restrictive measures in Brussels.
