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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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North Korea is Again Flying Balloons Likely Carrying Trash toward South Korea

The tit-for-tat Cold War-style campaigns between the two Koreas are inflaming tensions on the Korean Peninsula, with the rival threatening stronger steps and warning of grave consequences - The AP 
The tit-for-tat Cold War-style campaigns between the two Koreas are inflaming tensions on the Korean Peninsula, with the rival threatening stronger steps and warning of grave consequences - The AP 
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North Korea is Again Flying Balloons Likely Carrying Trash toward South Korea

The tit-for-tat Cold War-style campaigns between the two Koreas are inflaming tensions on the Korean Peninsula, with the rival threatening stronger steps and warning of grave consequences - The AP 
The tit-for-tat Cold War-style campaigns between the two Koreas are inflaming tensions on the Korean Peninsula, with the rival threatening stronger steps and warning of grave consequences - The AP 

North Korea again launched a raft of balloons likely carrying trash toward South Korea on Wednesday, Seoul officials said, the 10th such balloon incident in less than two months following South Korea's resumption of frontline propaganda broadcasts.

The tit-for-tat Cold War-style campaigns between the two Koreas are inflaming tensions on the Korean Peninsula, with the rival threatening stronger steps and warning of grave consequences, The AP reported.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement the North Korean balloons are flying north of Seoul on Wednesday morning after crossing the border. It urged the South Korean people to be alert for falling objects.

Since late May, North Korea has floated more than 2,000 rubbish-carrying balloons on a series of launch events, dropping waste paper, scraps of cloth, cigarette butts and even manure on South Korea. North Korea has argued its balloon campaigns are a response to South Korean activists scattering political leaflets across the border via their own balloons.

Experts say North Korea considers South Korean civilian leafleting activities a major threat to its efforts to crack down on the inflow of foreign news. In furious responses to past South Korean leafletting, North Korea destroyed an empty South Korean-built liaison office in its territory in 2020 and fired at incoming balloons in 2014.

The North’s balloon flying hasn’t caused major damages in South Korea. But it has caused security jitters among many people who think North Korea could use balloons to drop more hazardous materials like chemical and biological agents next time.

South Korea said Sunday it was bolstering its anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts from its loudspeakers along the land border because North Korea was continuing launches of trash-carrying balloons.

The latest South Korean broadcasts included K-pop songs and news on BTS member Jin’s torch-bearing ahead of the Paris Olympics and the recent defection of a senior North Korean diplomat. The broadcasts also called the mine-planting works by North Korean soldiers at the border “hellish, slave-like lives,” according to South Korean media.

Experts say South Korean propaganda broadcasts can demoralize frontline North Korean troops and residents, posing a blow to the North’s efforts to limit access to outside news for its 26 million people. South Korean officials have previously said broadcasts from their loudspeakers can travel about 10 kilometers (6 miles) during the day and 24 kilometers (15 miles) at night.