‘Whatever they steal, they’ll have to return’: Putin says E.U. using frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine would be ‘robbery’
Speaking during his annual televised Direct Line call-in show on Friday, President Vladimir Putin criticized Western efforts to use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, saying the move would amount “not to theft, but to robbery.” His comments came after the program’s hosts said Europe had so far failed to “steal” Russian assets and hand them over to Kyiv.
Putin argued that any seizure of Russian property would erode trust in European countries. “Whatever they steal, they’ll have to return it someday,” he added, saying Russia intends to defend its interests in court.
The European Union agreed on Friday to raise a 90-billion euro loan for Ukraine by borrowing against the bloc’s shared budget after member states failed to agree on using frozen Russian sovereign assets to fund Kyiv directly. Russia’s assets will remain frozen and could ultimately be used to repay the loan if Moscow does not pay reparations.
The highly scripted Direct Line program has aired nearly every year since 2001. It was cancelled in 2022, when it would have aired just months after Putin announced an unpopular mobilization drive to support Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
