Washington’s plan to expand its authority to “seize and forfeit” the assets of so-called Russian “oligarchs” to provide financial aid to Kiev is nothing but “expropriation” that tramples on the very right to private property, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Friday.
“This is a very dangerous precedent,” he warned, adding that such an action would be a “grave violation of any legal norms.”
Such a move can only cause “deep incomprehension and rejection,” Peskov said, adding that the very fact that the US government is contemplating such a move shows “just how fragile all the universally accepted foundations have become” in the field of private property rights, as well as in economics and politics.
This is nothing but simple expropriation of private property that [the US] seeks to falsely justify.
His comments came a day after the White House presented a set of “comprehensive proposals” aimed at supposedly holding Russian “oligarchs” and elites accountable over what the US considers the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The proposals include “establishing a streamlined administrative authority to seize and forfeit oligarch assets,” among other measures. The authority, including representatives from the Departments of the Treasury and Justice, should be able to forfeit the US property of the Russian individuals subjected to sanctions if this property “has a connection to specified unlawful conduct.” The decision would then be reviewable in a federal court.