OREANDA-NEWS The business of foreigners from unfriendly states should not be released from Russia, so that in case of confiscation of Russian assets abroad, these companies could be taken away as a retaliatory measure, said the head of VTB Andrey Kostin. His words are quoted by RIA Novosti.

According to Kostin, the Central Bank is "quite justifiably standing in the way of companies leaving the country whose businesses Russians are trying to acquire." "When they decide to send all our money to Ukraine, we will take it away and then hold auctions," he explained his position regarding the assets of unfriendly countries.

The idea of confiscation of frozen Russian assets has been repeatedly voiced in the United States and EU countries. In particular, the special representative of the American President for the restoration of the country, Penny Pritzker, said that they should be used to restore Ukraine, noting that the issue is now being resolved from a legal point of view. In turn, Professor Larry Tribe said that US President Joe Biden has the right to give frozen assets of Russia to Ukraine under the law on emergency international economic Powers of 1977.

The Bank of Russia allows the exchange of frozen assets. In June, the head of the regulator, Elvira Nabiullina, noted that the department was considering different options for offsetting. At the end of August, it became known about the emergence of a mechanism for the return of frozen abroad. In this case, securities belonging to foreigners and blocked in the Russian circuit can be used as an exchange fund. According to Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, assets worth about 100 billion rubles will be unblocked at the first stage. According to the Ministry of Finance, 3.5 million Russians abroad have about 1.5 trillion rubles frozen.