WEB DESK: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday labeled the freezing of Russian assets abroad as “theft” and warned that it would “not go unpunished.”
On Thursday, G7 leaders agreed on a new $50 billion loan for Ukraine, utilizing profits from frozen Russian assets. US President Joe Biden said this move demonstrated to Moscow that “we’re not backing down.”
Following Moscow’s troop deployment into Ukraine in February 2022, the G7 and the EU froze approximately 300 billion euros ($325 billion) of Russian central bank reserves.
Putin claimed that Western countries were attempting to create “some kind of legal basis” to justify the asset freeze, but maintained that “despite all the trickery, theft is still theft and will not go unpunished.”
Read More: G7 agrees $50bn deal to support Ukraine
The Russian leader also warned that the standoff between Moscow and the West was nearing “the point of no return,” and boasted about Moscow’s possession of “the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons.”
Throughout the conflict with Ukraine, Putin has frequently referenced nuclear capabilities, framing the situation as part of a broader “hybrid war” between Russia and the NATO military alliance.
Additionally, he criticized a Ukraine peace forum taking place in Switzerland this weekend as a “trick to distract everybody.” Moscow was not invited to the conference, which will be attended by heads of state and senior officials from around 90 countries and international organizations.
