Siluanov said about the retaliatory use of Western assets for the development of Russian regions

In response to the actions of the West, Russia is also using income from the assets of Western countries, but for the development and support of its regions. This was announced by Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov on December 5.

"We also do the same and use this money in exactly the same way, only we use this money for development, support of regions," he told journalist Pavel Zarubin, who published the video in his Telegram channel.

Siluanov reminded that the West now uses interest from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets rather than the bulk of gold and foreign exchange reserves.

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The day before, Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out that Western countries have not yet taken the final step to finally steal its assets. Now the gold and foreign exchange reserves of the Russian Federation in the United States in the European Union only blocked, Moscow was forced to take retaliatory measures, reminded the head of state.

Earlier, on November 28, the European Union signed a memorandum of understanding with Ukraine for the first part of the €18.1 billion (about $19.1 billion) loan with repayment from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets - part of the G7's $50 billion initiative. In turn, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on November 26 that the G7 was in the final stages of the process of allocating this $50 billion to Kiev, and repeated this statement in Brussels on December 4.

Prior to that, on Nov. 20, Siluanov warned that Russia would use the proceeds from frozen Western assets as retaliatory measures. At the time, he noted that decisions would be implemented after information about unfriendly actions was received.

Western countries stepped up military and financial support for Kiev amid Russia's special operation to protect Donbass, which Putin announced on February 24, 2022, after the situation in the region worsened due to shelling by the Ukrainian military. The EU soon approved the decision to freeze the assets of the Russian Central Bank.