By Elena Teslova
MOSCOW (AA) - Russia said on Saturday that a response to the freezing of its assets by the EU won't be delayed.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement that the EU officials do not tell their citizens that they will pay for anti-Russian actions.
"Brussels is carefully hiding the fact that it will be the citizens of EU countries who will pay the price for political ambitions. Our response will not be delayed," she said.
Zakharova pointed out that the Bank of Russia submitted on Friday a lawsuit to the Arbitration Court of Moscow against Euroclear Depository for recovery of damages.
"However, the EU itself will not be able to compensate for the damage it will cause to its own financial and economic system, as well as its reputation," Zakharova added.
The diplomat pointed out that disposing of Russian sovereign assets without Russia's consent represents an absolutely illegal act, brazenly violating international laws.
"No matter what pseudo-legal tricks Brussels tries to justify this with, it amounts to outright ordinary robbery," Zakharova concluded.
Zakharova highlighted the lack of unity within the EU on the matter of indefinitely freezing Russian assets.
"Representatives of several EU member states openly declared their categorical rejection of the overtly fraudulent scheme orchestrated by the European Commission, supported by aggressively Russophobic capitals within the EU, regarding Russian assets," she said.
Zakharova also noted that the EU is striving to undermine the Ukrainian settlement by any means possible, hence the rush to decide on Russian assets.
"It is evident that Ursula von der Leyen (president of the European Commission) and her cronies are also putting their efforts toward undermining the search for peaceful ways to resolve the Ukrainian crisis. Hence the urgency and timing chosen for deciding on Russian assets to directly undermine the peace initiatives of US President Donald Trump," she stressed.
Commenting on the European Commission's explanation about the possibility of taking extraordinary measures in times of severe economic hardship within the EU itself, Zakharova said it was "self-exposure"—the EU demonstrated that the Ukrainian burden has become "unbearable" for them, and it "resorts to theft."