Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday praised the “healthy thoughts” expressed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently, apparently referring to his exclusive interview with Breitbart News in which he commented on releasing Russian assets frozen after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Lavrov told a press conference in Doha there had been “no concrete talk” among European governments about releasing frozen Russian assets.
“But the fact that as part of the settlement this topic will not disappear anywhere is no doubt, it is natural. The Americans also understand this,” he continued.
“Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently stated that the issue of frozen Russian assets should be considered,” he said, “and considered in conjunction with the steps that were taken in response by the Russian Federation and which affect the interests of American companies in this case.”
“These are healthy thoughts that you need to abandon the thieves’ methods and not expect them to remain unanswered,” he added.
Rubio mentioned Russia’s frozen funds during his interview with Matthew Boyle of Breitbart News on Monday evening, in the course of discussing how Russia might rejoin the world economy after the war in Ukraine ends.
Marco Rubio talks to Breitbart News Washington bureau chief Matthew Boyle. (Breitbart News)
“There are opportunities to work together, and obviously that’s going to entail talking about not just Russian assets that have been seized by the Europeans or the U.S. or whatever, but also American companies that have been hurt. So that will be part of a broader conversation about how to reset our relations,” Rubio said.
“We’re not at that step yet, and I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves,” he added. “None of that is even possible, and we can’t even really talk about those things or fix those things until we bring this war to at least some sort of enduring ceasefire and hopefully permanent end.”
The United States and Europe froze between $300 billion and $350 billion in Russian assets after the invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, much of it taking the form of American, British, and European government bonds.
The exact amount of the frozen assets is a matter of debate and could fluctuate with how those assets are valuated, but the vast majority of the money is under European control. The U.S. Treasury Department has estimated that some $58 billion in frozen assets represents property, yachts, private aircraft, and other material goods owned by prominent Russians.
After President Donald Trump initiated talks with Russia earlier this month – without involving either the Europeans or Ukraine – some European leaders began talking about using their enormous share of the frozen Russian assets as leverage to get a seat at the table.
One suggestion was to seize the Russian money outright and use it to replace American financial support for the war in Ukraine, or simply give the money to the Ukrainians to finance both their military efforts and postwar reconstruction.
The more powerful members of the European Union are reluctant to take this step because they would lose all leverage over Russia, and might also risk unleashing chaos in the international financial system, given the huge sums at stake.
Generally speaking, Eastern European leaders have been most eager to hand Russia’s billions over to Ukraine now that President Trump is shifting his posture away from Europe. The likes of Germany, France, and Italy may talk tough about liquidating Russia’s assets, but they are privately nervous that such a move could panic international investors and destroy their faith in the European banking system.
The European Commission said last week that it plans to begin negotiations among its foreign ministers on March 24 to establish an “International Claims Commission” that would assess damage claims against Russia’s assets and calculate how much Russian money should be liquidated to pay those claims.
The Russians have not completely rejected the idea of using some of their frozen cash reserves to rebuild Ukraine – provided a proportional share of the money is spent on rebuilding the roughly 20 percent of Ukrainian territory that Russia now controls, and plans to continue controlling.
Lavrov’s bitter remark about “thieves’ methods” is consistent with how Moscow has talked about its frozen assets until now. In December, the Russians denounced a U.S. transfer of $20 billion in frozen funds to Ukraine as “simply robbery” and threatened to retaliate by seizing Western assets located in Russia.
The Russian Foreign Ministry accused the outgoing Biden administration of indulging in a “Russophobic frenzy to introduce as many anti-Russian sanctions as possible before it transfers power to Donald Trump’s team.”
“No pseudo-legal machinations, abundantly seasoned with hypocrisy and double standards will go unanswered,” the Foreign Ministry thundered.
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