Earlier today Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held top-level talks with his Tunisian counterpart Nabil Ammar. The parties discussed comprehensive bilateral relations in trade, tech, and political cooperation. Lavrov then convened a meeting with Kais Said, the President of Tunisia.
"Europeans still have some signs of respect for their own laws. That is why they are delaying these decisions. But according to our data, the Americans in closed contacts explain to them how to change these laws to take everything and finally steal it all," Lavrov told reporters following talks with Tunisian President Kais Saied.
Potential seizure of Russian frozen assets is a matter that has long been debated among the Kiev sponsors. The main issue is the lack of fundamental legal framework to carry out the procedure.
Once Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Western countries imposed unprecedented sanctions against Moscow, including freezing Russian assets roughly worth 300 billion euros ($329 billion). Almost 200 billion euros are stored in the European Union, mostly on Euroclear accounts, a European central securities depository.