The State Duma criticized the EU's decision to support Ukraine at the expense of Russia's assets

The decision of European countries to use profits from frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine has permanently damaged the reputation of their banks. Alexey Zhuravlev, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Defense, told Izvestia about this.

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"It was clear that sooner or later it would start — it wasn't for nothing that they stole our assets, not in order to protect them and multiply them. The UK does not have enough money of its own, for example, for military spending — the largest budget deficit for procurement since 2012 has been recorded at 17 billion pounds," Zhuravlev said.

Now neither China, nor India, nor the Persian Gulf countries will turn to European banks — "the safety of invested funds is no longer guaranteed," the deputy noted.

"This is an indicator of how strangely everything is arranged in the current Western world — in order to harm Russia, they are ready to act at a loss, as they say, "I'll freeze my ears to spite Dad," Zhuravlev said.

Earlier, French Defense Minister Sebastian Lecorny said that Paris would provide Kiev with weapons and ammunition worth €195 million from income from Russian assets.

Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:

Not in resources: Europe is trying to find ways to support Ukraine without the United States