Putin Says West’s ‘Theft’ of Russia’s Assets Will Not Go Unpunished 

Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with the leadership of the Russian foreign ministry in Moscow, Russia June 14, 2024. (Reuters)
Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with the leadership of the Russian foreign ministry in Moscow, Russia June 14, 2024. (Reuters)
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Putin Says West’s ‘Theft’ of Russia’s Assets Will Not Go Unpunished 

Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with the leadership of the Russian foreign ministry in Moscow, Russia June 14, 2024. (Reuters)
Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with the leadership of the Russian foreign ministry in Moscow, Russia June 14, 2024. (Reuters)

President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that plans by Western countries to provide Ukraine with loans using interest from Russian assets frozen abroad was theft and would not go unpunished. 

Putin, speaking at a meeting with Foreign Ministry officials, said the way the West had treated Moscow showed that any country could fall victim to a similar Western asset freeze. 

"Despite all the chicanery, theft will certainly remain theft. And it will not go unpunished", Putin said. 

"Now it is becoming obvious to all countries, companies (and) sovereign funds that their assets and reserves are far from safe in both the legal and economic sense of the word. 

"Anyone could be next in line for expropriation by the US and the West." 

Putin was speaking a day after the leaders of the Group of Seven major democracies agreed on an outline deal to provide $50 billion of loans for Ukraine using interest from Russian sovereign assets frozen after Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022 in what it called a special military operation. 



UK Announces $19 billion Investment in 1st Major Nuclear Plant since the 1990s

Sizewell B nuclear power station in Suffolk, southeast England, April 10, 2013. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett/File Photo
Sizewell B nuclear power station in Suffolk, southeast England, April 10, 2013. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett/File Photo
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UK Announces $19 billion Investment in 1st Major Nuclear Plant since the 1990s

Sizewell B nuclear power station in Suffolk, southeast England, April 10, 2013. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett/File Photo
Sizewell B nuclear power station in Suffolk, southeast England, April 10, 2013. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett/File Photo

Britain will invest 14.2 billion pounds ($19 billion) to build a new nuclear station that will reduce the UK's reliance on volatile international fossil fuel markets, the government said Tuesday.

Officials said the investment will go into building the new Sizewell C nuclear power plant in Suffolk, on England's eastern coast, saying it will generate enough low-carbon electricity to power 6 million homes when it becomes operational in the 2030s.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said previous governments had dithered and delayed over nuclear power. No new nuclear plant has been opened in the UK since Sizewell B in 1995, The AP news reported.

“Having our own energy in this country that we control, gives us security, gives us independence, so (Russian President Vladimir) Putin can’t put his boot on our throat," Starmer said. “And it means that we can control the prices in a way that we haven’t been able to in recent years, which has meant very high prices for businesses, for households and for families."

The government also announced that Rolls-Royce is the preferred bidder to develop a number of small modular reactors, which it said can power around 3 million homes and help fuel power-hungry industries like AI data centers.

The Treasury said building Sizewell C will create 10,000 jobs. The investment announced Tuesday is in addition to 3.7 billion pounds the UK government already committed to the project.

Nuclear power is seen as an increasingly important electricity source as the government seeks to decarbonize Britain’s electricity grid by 2030, replacing fossil fuels with low-carbon power.

The UK also wants to reduce its dependence on imported oil and gas, especially in light of soaring energy prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But critics have said nuclear plants are far more expensive and slow to build compared with renewable energy options such as solar and wind power. Environmental groups have also argued Sizewell C will damage local nature reserves that host wildlife like otters and marsh birds.

About 300 people joined a protest against the development at the Suffolk site over the weekend.

“Net zero is supposed to happen by 2030 — there is no way this is going to be completed by then," said Jenny Kirtley, a local resident who chairs the campaign group Together Against Sizewell C.