The Russian Foreign Ministry has said that the possible confiscation of Russian assets by the United States will completely destroy Moscow's bilateral relations with Washington.
According to the British news agency Reuters, the head of the North American Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Alexander Darchev, said in an interview with the Russian news agency on Saturday, "We warn the Americans of the harmful consequences of such actions that permanently damage bilateral relations." But they will cause harm, which is neither in their interest nor in our interest.
Alexander Darchev said that Russia has warned the United States that if Russia is declared a state sponsor of terrorism, diplomatic relations will be adversely affected and may even break.
Regarding the situation in Ukraine, he said that "the influence of the United States on Kiev has increased to such an extent that they are increasingly becoming a direct party to this conflict."
The head of the North American Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that a Russian prisoner, Viktor Bout, who US prosecutors say is a world-famous arms smuggler, along with American basketball star Brittany Griner and ex-Marine Paul Whelan, are being held in Russian custody. Negotiations regarding the exchange are ongoing.
It should be noted that Russia's relations with the West have been severely degraded since Moscow's attack on Ukraine on February 24 this year.
The Russian attack was met with unprecedented economic, financial and diplomatic sanctions from the West. About half of Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves, which stood at around $640 billion before February 24, were also frozen.
The United States and its European allies have also frozen $30 billion in assets of wealthy individuals with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
