The head of the North American Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Alexander Darchev, warned: “The Americans about the serious consequences of a possible confiscation of Russian assets, which will permanently harm bilateral relations, and this is not in their interests and not in our interests.” .”

“US influence in Ukraine has grown to the point that the Americans are increasingly becoming a direct party to the conflict,” Darchiev said, adding that “Russia has warned the US that serious damage will be done to diplomatic relations.”

Russia’s relations with the West have deteriorated sharply since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine on February 24.

In response, the West imposed unprecedented economic, financial and diplomatic sanctions, including freezing about half of Russia’s gold and foreign exchange reserves, which stood at about $640 billion until February last year.

The administration of US President Joe Biden has proposed using Russian assets to compensate Ukraine for the damage caused by the war in Ukraine.

The White House said in a previous statement that “this will allow all proceeds from looted assets to be transferred to Ukraine to compensate for the damage done to Ukraine by the war with Russia.”