The State Duma warned the EU about a serious response in the case of the use of assets of the Russian Federation

Russia has the opportunity to seriously respond to the European Union (EU) in the case of the use of Russian assets, and some European countries are afraid of this, Alexei Chepa, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, told Izvestia on April 10.

Earlier in the day, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaya Kallas, said that negotiations were underway in the EU with various countries regarding the use of frozen assets. At the same time, some countries strongly oppose such actions.

"This is theft, and many politicians are very well aware that this can lead to lawlessness and retaliation from many countries. All their long—term attempts to introduce their principles into the world are collapsing. The concept of the WTO (World Trade Organization. — Ed.), some kind of responsibility, international agreements — all this is being destroyed by such theft," Chepa stressed.

On the other hand, he noted that Russia has the opportunity to seriously respond to such actions by the EU. In his opinion, European states are afraid of this.

"There are countries that can get some kind of response from this, for example, the Baltic States - they shout more. Those countries that have had investments that want to return to Russia — there are a lot of countries whose companies want to return to Russia — are acting with caution," the deputy added.

At the same time, he clarified that the Russian government is very responsible about the possibility of some foreign companies returning to the Russian market. And the leaders of these countries understand that there will be certain consequences if Russian assets are used, so not all states support the policy of theft.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a briefing on April 10 that Russia would never give up its rights to its own assets. Also, the Russian side will not give up defending its rights in this matter.