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)
TT
20

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. 



US Aware of Reported Death of American after Beating by Israeli Settlers

Israeli soldiers stand guard as Israeli settlers tour in the old city-center and market of the Palestinian city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank on June 28, 2025. (Photo by HAZEM BADER / AFP)
Israeli soldiers stand guard as Israeli settlers tour in the old city-center and market of the Palestinian city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank on June 28, 2025. (Photo by HAZEM BADER / AFP)
TT
20

US Aware of Reported Death of American after Beating by Israeli Settlers

Israeli soldiers stand guard as Israeli settlers tour in the old city-center and market of the Palestinian city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank on June 28, 2025. (Photo by HAZEM BADER / AFP)
Israeli soldiers stand guard as Israeli settlers tour in the old city-center and market of the Palestinian city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank on June 28, 2025. (Photo by HAZEM BADER / AFP)

The US State Department said on Friday it was aware of the reported death of a US citizen in the Israeli-occupied West Bank after reports emerged of Israeli settlers fatally beating a Palestinian American.

Palestinian news agency WAFA, citing the local health ministry, said Saif al-Din Kamel Abdul Karim Musallat, aged in his 20s, died after he was beaten by Israeli settlers on Friday evening in an attack that also injured many people in a town north of Ramallah.

Relatives of Musallat, who was from Tampa, Florida, were also quoted by the Washington Post as saying he was beaten to death by Israeli settlers.

"We are aware of reports of the death of a US citizen in the West Bank," a State Department spokesperson said, adding the department had no further comment "out of respect for the privacy of the family and loved ones" of the reported victim.

The Israeli military said Israel was probing the incident in the town of Sinjil. It said rocks were hurled at Israelis near Sinjil and that "a violent confrontation developed in the area", reported Reuters.

Israel has expanded and consolidated settlements in the West Bank as part of the steady integration of these territories into the state of Israel in breach of international law, the UN human rights office said in March.

Settler violence in the West Bank, including incursions into occupied territory and raids, has intensified since the start of Israel's war in Gaza in late 2023.

Israel's military offensive has killed over 57,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Gaza's health ministry, and led to accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice and of war crimes at the International Criminal Court. Israel denies the accusations and says it is fighting in self-defense after the October 2023 Hamas attack that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.

Israeli killings of US citizens in the West Bank in recent years include those of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, Palestinian American teenager Omar Mohammad Rabea and Turkish American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi.

The United Nations' highest court said last year Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there were illegal and should be withdrawn as soon as possible.