Kremlin accuses West of having “essentially stolen” gold, forex reserves via sanctions

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia on Monday accused Western countries of having “essentially stolen” its gold and foreign exchange reserves via sanctions.

Asked by reporters about a European Union proposal to transfer frozen Russian assets to Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “In general, a part large of our assets have been essentially stolen by specific Western countries.”

Unprecedented Western sanctions have frozen around half of Russia’s gold and foreign exchange reserves, which stood near $640 billion before Moscow sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Last week, European Council head Charles Michel said that the bloc should consider transferring frozen Russian reserves to Ukraine.

(Reporting by Reuters)