On the 24th Russia accused Western countries of “stealing” Russia’s gold and foreign exchange reserves through sanctions. Russian Presidential Press Secretary Peskov said in response to a reporter’s question that a large amount of Russia’s assets have actually been plundered by “Western countries”, including Russia’s gold and foreign exchange reserves. Peskov said it was completely illegal and violated international law. This is a violation of state and private property.
The report pointed out that Western sanctions have caused about half of Russia’s gold and foreign exchange reserves to be frozen. The reserves were close to $640 billion before Russia launched a special military operation on February 24. European Council President Michael Michel said publicly last week that the EU was considering transferring frozen Russian assets to Ukraine.