Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova commented in a post on Emmanuel Macron’s statements on Europe’s right to dispose of frozen Russian assets, stressing that only Russia can decide their fate.

Notably, Macron earlier said that Europe has the right to decide on the use of Russian assets that remain frozen within the European Union.

In a Telegram post, Zakharova stressed that “only Russia has the right to decide what happens to its assets” and argued that those who “illegally hold” Russian Federation money must return it if they do not want to be called thieves and receive the harshest response for their crime.”

For his part, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that Moscow will not let potential attempts to seize Russian assets go unanswered.