OREANDA-NEWS. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called "theft" the initiative of the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell to transfer the blocked assets of Russia to the authorities of Ukraine, writes RIA Novosti. During a press conference, he also noted that such actions by Western leaders are becoming "something like a habit." The idea of ​​withdrawing Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves frozen in Europe and transferring them to Ukraine for restoration after the military operation Borrell expressed in an interview with the Financial Times.

Theft, which they don’t even try to hide,” Lavrov said.

Earlier, Oleg Ustenko, economic adviser to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, said that the authorities expect to receive part of Russia's frozen and confiscated assets to restore the economy and infrastructure. According to him, we can talk about the amount of $400-500 billion.

This amount includes assets of the Russian Central Bank frozen in Western countries in the amount of $300 billion. According to the economic adviser, Ukraine can receive another $100 billion from the frozen assets of the inner circle of Russian President Vladimir Putin.