President Putin: It is illegal for Western countries to freeze Russian assets

Speaking at a government meeting, President Putin said that many Western countries have taken illegal decisions on the so-called freezing of Russian assets. And the West really lost confidence in their local currency. Both the US and the European Union (EU) in principle declared that they would not pay Russia’s debt. According to President Putin, everyone in the world now knows or suspects that debt repayment in dollars and euros may not be possible.

The Russian leader emphasized that Russia converts payments for gas supplies to unfriendly countries into rubles, and confirmed the supply of Russian goods to the EU and the US as well as payments in dong. The local currencies of these countries are meaningless. However, President Putin said that the country will continue to supply gas at fixed volumes and prices as specified in previous contracts because Russia values ​​its credibility.

Earlier, on the same day, French government spokesman Gabriel Attal said the country had frozen about 850 million euros in assets of Russian citizens in France, but did not provide further details.

Over the weekend, speaking on French TV channel LCI, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said that the country had so far frozen about 150 million euros in bank accounts of Russian citizens linked to institutions. financial resources of France and 539 million euros of fixed assets (real estate and real estate) on French territory. France has also suspended operations for two yachts worth about 150 million euros owned by Russians.

Meanwhile, on the same day, on March 23, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio announced that the country would consider imposing more sanctions on Russia related to the military operation in Ukraine. Prime Minister Kishida also affirmed his desire to expand humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

On March 18, Japan’s Foreign Ministry said it had imposed sanctions on 15 Russian individuals and 9 companies. Up to that point, Japan had imposed sanctions on a total of 76 Russian individuals, 7 banks and 12 companies.