As the West continues to pay penalties for Moscow’s military invasion of Ukraine, his warning comes as Moscow continues to be punished.
Medvedev warns persons and entities from ‘hostile’ nations that they may lose their assets in Russia
A possible response to the possibility of Russian companies and citizens being taken into custody is to nationalize Russian-based assets. According to Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chair of Russia’s Security Council, this is according to a social media statement.
The United States and its European allies imposed a range of sanctions against Russia, Russian banks and its political and business elites, following President Putin’s decision in Ukraine to launch a military offensive. Medvedev posted on Facebook Saturday to voice his opinion about the sanctions that were being applied to the members of the council.
“Naturally these wonderful bans will’t change anything… As an example: My family members and myself had no – and still have no – bank accounts or property overseas,” stated the high-ranking official, who was Russia’s head state between 2008-2012.
Dmitry Medvedev noted that the western leaders were threatening to block accounts of Russian citizens or companies that aren’t on the sanctions list. He stressed that Moscow should respond in a symmetrical manner. Russia should either freeze foreign companies’ financial accounts or “nationalize” the property of unfriendly jurisdictions.
Although Medvedev didn’t specify the types of assets he meant by different assets, the Duma lower house of parliament recently approved a law that allows the Russian state to seize digital currencies through courts along with traditional financial assets.
This legislation targets corrupt government officials in particular. However, Russian authorities are actively working to regulate all crypto transactions. According to media reports, the country and the Russian elite could use cryptocurrencies in order to avoid western sanctions.
