Any attempts by the EU to tap into the frozen assets of the Russian Central Bank would be illegal under international law, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.

Earlier this week, the Russian Central Bank initiated legal proceedings against Euroclear, the Belgian-based depository that holds the bulk of Russia’s frozen funds, as Ukraine’s European backers debate how to repurpose the assets to finance Kiev.

“Actions against sovereign assets taken without Russia’s consent – whether indefinite immobilization, confiscation, or attempts to portray them as a so-called reparations loan – are entirely illegal under international law,” Zakharova told reporters during her regular briefing on Saturday.

“No matter what pseudo-legal tricks Brussels employs to justify it, this is blatant theft,” she added.

Zakharova argued that, apart from “funding the failed Ukrainian project,” the EU was also seeking to use Russian funds to bolster its own economy, which had been damaged by sanctions targeting Moscow’s trade with the West.

Hungary and Slovakia have condemned the EU for invoking its rarely used emergency powers to circumvent potential vetoes from individual member states and make the asset freeze indefinite. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has accused the “Brussels dictatorship” of “systematically raping European law.”

Politico reported earlier this week that Italy, Belgium, Bulgaria, and Malta had asked the European Commission to explore options for providing loans to Kiev other than seizing Russian assets. Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever has repeatedly warned that outright confiscation of Russian funds would undermine trust in the EU financial system, trigger capital flight, and expose Belgium to legal risks.

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