2024-04-26 00:58:23
Russia is considering downgrading its diplomatic relations with the United States if Western governments go ahead with proposals to confiscate its frozen assets, RIA Novosti reported today, citing Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov.
The group of G-7 countries wants to use Russian financial assets frozen since 2022, worth nearly 300 billion dollars, to help Ukraine, which has been fighting the Russian invasion for the third year, reported Reuters.
However, how this will be done remains extremely complex, given that it will set a controversial precedent.
Ryabkov stated that Moscow will take economic and political countermeasures if Russian assets are confiscated, BTA reported.
“Reducing the level of diplomatic relations is one possibility, of course. Many high-ranking representatives of our government have already spoken about the issues of our financial, economic and material response to this step (confiscation), which we warn our opponents about, as before, not to undertake,” RIA quoted him as saying.
“We are now exploring the optimal form of response, in which countermeasures include actions against the assets of our Western adversaries as well as diplomatic measures.”
He did not specify what the downgrading of diplomatic relations might entail. The Kremlin has described the current state of relations with the US as “below zero”, although there has been no official downgrade in relations since the start of the war in Ukraine.