Putin has promised Europe serious consequences for using Russian assets

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Europe of “serious consequences” if Russian assets are used.

He said this during his “direct line” event.

Putin argued that issuing a reparations loan to Ukraine backed by Russian assets would have economic consequences for EU countries’ budgets.

“This increases public debt. Even if someone issues loans secured by our gold and foreign currency reserves, it still has to be reflected in the budget of the country doing it. And in France, for example, public debt is 120%,” Putin said.

In his view, if Russian funds are confiscated, the main threat would be a loss of trust in Western financial institutions and the eurozone as a whole, which could trigger capital flight and destabilize the global economy.

He also offered a legal characterization of the use of Russian assets.

“Theft is the secret taking of property, and they want to do it openly. That’s robbery,” the Russian president said.

He emphasized that Russia would defend its interests by all available means.

“Russia, in the event that its assets are seized, will defend itself in courts, in jurisdictions that do not depend on political decisions,” Putin promised.

He added that Europe would sooner or later have to return any seized assets.

As a reminder, despite its plans, the European Union was unable to approve the use of Russian assets to provide a loan to Ukraine and had to allocate funds from its own budget instead.