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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Russia is preparing new seizures of foreign companies' assets: EU banks may come under attack.
The aggressor country Russia is sending the European Union a signal that it may continue to deprive foreign owners of the right to manage their Russian assets. This month Russia has already placed under temporary management the assets of Swiss food giant Nestlé, German wholesale operator Metro AG, and French retailer Auchan.
The Kremlin accuses the European Union of meddling in the war in Ukraine. Reuters reports this, citing sources in the Russian government and in companies.
“The time has come for asymmetrical measures. Let them think about what measures they take and what sanctions they impose,” said a senior source in Russia who is directly familiar with these actions.
Journalists asked which companies could become the next targets and whether the Russian subsidiaries of Italian bank UniCredit and Austrian banking group Raiffeisen could be placed under temporary administration.
A source at the Russian corporation accused European companies of deliberately slowing the development of their Russian subsidiaries, which ultimately harms the Russian economy.
Meanwhile, a senior executive of a European company, part of an ever-shrinking circle of foreign firms operating in Russia, told Reuters that European business is expected to maintain the status quo in the near future.
On Tuesday, 29 September, the Kremlin said that the decisions on Nestlé, Metro, and Auchan were driven by the “growing involvement of these unfriendly countries in direct hostilities” against Russia, but noted that these measures are “reversible.”
“At present we see no grounds to cancel these decisions. We do not hear any reasonable voices calling for dialogue or efforts to rectify the situation,” said Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Russian dictator.
He did not provide any evidence or details about how European countries were involved in military operations. Russian officials had previously mentioned arms supplies, including drone manufacturing in the EU, as well as providing information about targets and intelligence data.
“If you admit that your weapon is used against us, and we shoot it down, call it whatever you want, but I have no doubt that this is a war that Europe is waging against us,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.
Russia also criticizes the EU for freezing its sovereign assets at about 210 billion euros in response to the war, and for taking measures against assets owned by Russian companies in Europe and other Western countries.
Document: PDF proof of the republished news item "РФ готує нові захоплення активів іноземних компаній: під ударом можуть опинитися банки ЄС" after a recorded deletion or page unavailability. Source: ANTIKOR.
