Kremlin mulling retaliation to Czech asset freeze

1 year ago 43

Russia is considering its response to the Czech government deciding to add a company managing Russian assets to a national sanctions list, freezing dozens of properties and hundreds of apartments leased by Russia in the process.

“Goszagransobstvennost [the state agency for managing real estate abroad] is part of the Russian federal economy and acts for its benefit,” the Czech national sanctions list, created in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, reads.

“The income of this legal organisation is used to finance the Russian regime that is murdering civilians in Ukraine,” Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský (Pirates) said after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

“Czechia has just frozen all Russian state assets. I applaud this principled step and thank my counterpart and friend, Jan Lipavský. All countries that haven’t yet done so should follow suit. Russian money should be used for Ukraine’s recovery instead of murder and destruction,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on X on Wednesday.

Russia quickly responded too, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov describing Prague’s move as unlawful, TASS reported Thursday.

Moscow would look into examining Czechia’s assets in Russia, Peskov added.

Lipavský rejected the idea that freezing Russian state assets in Czechia was illegal and plans to push for the same step to be taken at the EU level.

(Ondřej Plevák | Euractiv.cz)