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Kremlin Pledges Legal Action over Planned EU Transfer to Ukraine of Interest Accrued on Frozen Assets

A Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system drives out of a military shelter during, what Russia's Defense Ministry called, planned exercises of the Strategic Missile Forces in the Irkutsk region, Russia, in this still image from video released July 23, 2024. Russian Defense Ministry/Handout/Reuters
A Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system drives out of a military shelter during, what Russia's Defense Ministry called, planned exercises of the Strategic Missile Forces in the Irkutsk region, Russia, in this still image from video released July 23, 2024. Russian Defense Ministry/Handout/Reuters
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Kremlin Pledges Legal Action over Planned EU Transfer to Ukraine of Interest Accrued on Frozen Assets

A Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system drives out of a military shelter during, what Russia's Defense Ministry called, planned exercises of the Strategic Missile Forces in the Irkutsk region, Russia, in this still image from video released July 23, 2024. Russian Defense Ministry/Handout/Reuters
A Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system drives out of a military shelter during, what Russia's Defense Ministry called, planned exercises of the Strategic Missile Forces in the Irkutsk region, Russia, in this still image from video released July 23, 2024. Russian Defense Ministry/Handout/Reuters

The Kremlin on Tuesday called a European Union plan to use interest earned on frozen Russian assets to fund military aid to Ukraine "theft" and said it would take legal action against anyone involved in the decision.

The EU's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, on Monday said that the first tranche of 1.4 billion euros in military aid for Ukraine taken from proceeds earned on frozen Russian assets would be made in early August, Reuters reported.

"Such thievish actions cannot remain without reciprocity," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "This money is not only essentially stolen, but will also be spent on the purchase of weapons."

"Definitely, we will work out the possible legal prosecution of those people who are involved in decision-making and the implementation of these decisions, because this is a direct violation of international law, it is a violation of property rights."

After President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, the United States and its allies prohibited transactions with Russia's central bank and finance ministry, blocking around $300 billion of sovereign Russian assets in the West.

European Union countries are taking the interest earned on those frozen assets - essentially bonds and other types of securities in which the Russian central bank had invested - and putting them into an EU fund which will be used to help Ukraine.

15-20 billion euros

($16-$22 billion) in profits by 2027.

Putin says the West unleashed what he casts as an economic war against Russia but has touted both the resilience of the Russian economy, which grew 3.6% last year, and the failure of sanctions of stop Russian trade.

The Kremlin has repeatedly said that any seizure of its assets would go against all the principles of free markets which the West proclaims and that it would undermine confidence in the US dollar and euro while deterring global investment and undermining confidence in Western central banks.

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said Moscow would have a tough response to Europe's use of any revenues from Russian assets, the state-run RIA news agency reported.

 

 

 

 

 

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Mudslides in Ethiopia Have Killed at Least 229

This grab made from a handout footage released by the Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department on July 23, 2024, shows people looking for victims at the bottom of a landslide that occurred in the Geze-Gofa district. (Photo by Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department/ESN / AFP)
This grab made from a handout footage released by the Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department on July 23, 2024, shows people looking for victims at the bottom of a landslide that occurred in the Geze-Gofa district. (Photo by Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department/ESN / AFP)
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Mudslides in Ethiopia Have Killed at Least 229

This grab made from a handout footage released by the Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department on July 23, 2024, shows people looking for victims at the bottom of a landslide that occurred in the Geze-Gofa district. (Photo by Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department/ESN / AFP)
This grab made from a handout footage released by the Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department on July 23, 2024, shows people looking for victims at the bottom of a landslide that occurred in the Geze-Gofa district. (Photo by Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department/ESN / AFP)

Mudslides triggered by heavy rain in a remote part of Ethiopia have killed at least 229 people, including many who tried to rescue survivors, local authorities said Tuesday, in what the prime minister called a "terrible loss."

Young children and pregnant women were among the victims in Kencho Shacha Gozdi district of southern Ethiopia, said Dagmawi Ayele, a local administrator, adding that at least five people have been pulled out alive.

The death toll rose sharply from the initial one of 55 late Monday. Search operations continued in the area, said Kassahun Abayneh, head of the communications office in Gofa Zone, the administrative area where the mudslides occurred.

Ethiopia's ruling party in a statement said it felt sorrow over the disaster. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in a statement on Facebook that he was "deeply saddened by this terrible loss."

The federal disaster prevention task force has been deployed to assist in search and rescue efforts, Abiy's statement said.

It was not immediately clear how many people were still unaccounted for.

Many victims were buried on Monday as rescue workers searched the steep terrain for survivors of another mudslide the previous day. Markos Melese, director of the disaster response agency in Gofa Zone, said many rescuers remained missing.

"There are children who are hugging corpses, having lost their entire family, including mother, father, brother and sister," he said.

Some women wailed as rescuers attempted to dig through the thick mud with shovels.

Landslides are common during Ethiopia's rainy reason, which started in July and is expected to last until mid-September.

Deadly mudslides often occur in the wider East African region, from Uganda's mountainous east to central Kenya's highlands. In April, at least 45 people were killed in Kenya's Rift Valley region when flash floods and a landslide swept through houses and cut off a major road.