Russia Vows 'Very Painful' Response As Kyiv Eyes $300 Billion of Frozen Assets

Russia has warned that Ukraine's allies will face serious consequences if its frozen assets are utilized to finance Volodymyr Zelensky's war effort.

Shortly after Moscow launched the full-scale invasion in February 2022, members of the G7 froze around $300 billion worth of Russian Central Bank assets held in financial institutions abroad. Ukraine's allies have since debated whether to appropriate these to provide further financial and military backing to the country, but this seizure has been widely decried by Russia as theft.

"Zelensky begged the EU for $300 billion in Russian assets. The European Union knows how this will end for them," Maria Zakharova, director of the Foreign Ministry press department, said on Friday via Telegram.

"We honestly warned them that it will be very painful," she continued.

Newsweek has contacted the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry for clarification on Zakharova's comments.

Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova attends her weekly briefing in Moscow, Russia. On Friday, Zakharova said that there would be "very painful" consequences if Russia's frozen assets were used to finance Ukraine's war effort. Sergey Guneev/Sputnik via AP

Her remarks came in response to a recent request from Ukraine's president for its European allies to draw upon the assets, amid speculation that Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election could jeopardize the support of Kyiv's most significant backer.

"Everyone says what will you do if Trump does not support you financially? Where will you get weapons? How will you defend yourselves?" Zelensky said on Thursday, at a press conference, following his participation in the European Political Community summit in Budapest, as reported by Ukrainian National News and other outlets.

"I answer you: can we take the 300 billion that belongs to us? Can we take 300 billion, support our people, and buy weapons in all countries of the world with this money? Can we decide for ourselves what kind of weapons we need? Can we decide for ourselves what to do with this money?"

The European Union has already greenlit a plan to provide Ukraine with a €35 billion loan (approximately $39 billion), which is to be repaid using windfall profits from the immobilized Russian assets.

President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a press conference at the European Political Community summit at Puskas Arena on November 7, 2024 in Budapest, Hungary. During his appearance at the summit, Zelensky requested that... Janos Kummer/Getty Images

Zelensky said his plea for the entire $300 billion to be commandeered was justified given that Russia had "destroyed Ukraine to the tune of about $800 billion," and that the onus was now on European nations to make the decision regardless of America's evolving position on the conflict.

"Make strong decisions and give us this money, and we will still leave it in Europe because we will buy weapons," Zelensky said. "We will also spend it on our own and cheaper production of weapons."

In her Friday Telegram post, Russia's foreign ministry spokesperson suggested that Ukraine could draw upon its own reserves of "stolen assets."

"Maybe the Ukrainians should just confiscate the property of Zelensky and his brood?" Zakharova said.

"Believe me, there is no less," she added, before accusing several members of the country's political elite, including former President Petro Poroshenko and billionaire oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi, of being "thieves who brought the Ukrainian state to collapse."

Newsweek has contacted the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry for a response to Zakharova's comments.

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