Russia to Pursue Legal Battle if EU Uses Frozen Assets for Kyiv Loan, Medvedev Says

Russia will sue any EU country that dares to use its sanctioned cash to leverage a mega loan to Ukraine, former president Dmitry Medvedev said on social media.
Medvedev, who served a four-year stint as Russia’s president from 2008, issued the threat in response to reports about an idea the EU’s executive arm pitched to deputy finance ministers last week.

“If this happens, Russia will persecute the EU states, as well as Euro-degenerates from Brussels and individual EU countries who will try to seize our property, until the end of time,” Medvedev wrote Monday on the social media platform, Telegram.

Russia would pursue them in “all possible international and national courts … and in some cases, extrajudicially,” Medvedev said. His current function is deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council.
The European Commission’s pitch, described by one official as “legally creative,” is to take Russian cash that’s building up in a deposit account at the European Central Bank. The cash stems from almost €200 billion worth of Russia’s frozen state assets, held by a Brussels-based financial institution called Euroclear, that reach maturity.
The Commission is considering swapping that cash with short-term zero-coupon eurobonds as a way to avoid formally seizing Russia’s frozen assets, which could trigger global lawsuits and set an uneasy precedent for the future.
Armed with this cash, the Commission would issue a multi-billion euro “Reparations Loan” to Kyiv to help sustain its war effort against Moscow. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said last week that Ukraine would only have to pay back the loan if Russia pays for reparations — a highly unlikely scenario.
The cash-swap pitch is among several ideas on the table. Medvedev is having none of it and pledged to sue anyone who follows through “in every possible way.”