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Russia's Zakharova: EU's Use of Frozen Assets Is 'Theft' That 'Will Be Punished'

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at the Eastern Economic Forum that the use of frozen Russian assets by European nations constitutes theft and a crime that will be punished. She also addressed Belgian opposition to asset expropriation and warned of a decisive response to Baltic escalation.

By Tertius News AI Desk 2 distinct · 2 mastheads · 2 articles Version 1 Coverage Sep 1, 2026 Published 1h ago

Zakharova's Warning at the Eastern Economic Forum

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on September 1 that the use of frozen Russian assets by European nations constitutes a crime that will be punished. Speaking at a briefing on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok, Zakharova stated, "The use of Russian sovereign assets, whatever they may be called, is theft. It is illegal. This is not just a violation of high moral and ethical standards. It is a direct crime, which is qualified accordingly and will be punished."

She added that "all who support it become accomplices," including those who "engage in it and those who encourage, approve, or justify it," noting that "appropriate legal classifications exist."

Context: Belgian Minister's Remarks

Zakharova's comments came in response to a question about a statement by Belgian Minister of Defense and Foreign Trade Theo Francken, who said that his country is blocking and will not discuss the latest attempt to expropriate Russia's frozen assets. Zakharova said that those who speak out against the illegality of such use are "voicing the concerns of either reason or self-preservation." She continued, "For Western European or EU officials, self-preservation at this stage is the highest manifestation of reason in the absence of it, which we indeed see and which is confirmed by their monstrous crimes and no less monstrous actions."

Broader Russian Stance

Moscow has repeatedly called the freezing of Russian assets in Europe illegal. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that Russia would respond if the West confiscated its frozen assets, as reported by Sputnik News.

Related Statements on the Baltics and Ceuta

In other remarks at the forum, Zakharova addressed the Baltic region, saying that in case of further escalation of the military-political situation there, "the response from the Russian side to the initiators of insane anti-Russian adventures will be decisive. And they should know this is devastating for them."

Zakharova also commented on the situation around Ceuta, stating that Spain did not directly contact Russia regarding Moscow's alleged involvement in the migration crisis in the Spanish enclave, but that Madrid immediately "ran to the microphones" to make statements. The report noted that Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez had made such statements. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied Russian involvement in the migration crisis in Spain, according to Sputnik.

Other Forum Developments

Separately, Andrei Kelin completed his mission as Russian ambassador to the UK, as reported by Sputnik News.

The Eastern Economic Forum is being held from September 1 to 4 in Vladivostok on the campus of the Far Eastern Federal University. The main theme of the EEF in 2026 is "The Far East: Development for the Benefit of People." The event is organized by the Roscongress Foundation with the support of the Russian government, with TASS serving as the general information partner.

How each outlet told it

A framing line is our reading of that outlet's own text — an interpretation, not a quotation and not a fact we assert. Check it against what the outlet published.

Sputnik News

Framing: Headline presents Russian warning as asserting asset seizure equals theft with retaliation threatened — Combative and declarative

as of Sep 1, 2026, 11:19 AM UTC

Facts Included:

Maria Zakharova called using frozen Russian assets illegal and theft
Zakharova made comments at Eastern Economic Forum
Frozen assets statement was made at a briefing on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum
Sergey Lavrov said Russia would respond if the West confiscated its frozen assets
Zakharova said Russia's response to Baltic escalation would be decisive and destructive
Spain did not directly contact Russia over Ceuta crisis
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied Russian involvement in migration crisis in Spain
Andrei Kelin completed his mission as Russian ambassador to the UK
Eastern Economic Forum held September 1-4 in Vladivostok

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TASS — English

Framing: EU's use of frozen Russian assets is described as a crime, attributed to the Russian MFA.

as of Sep 1, 2026, 10:15 AM UTC

Facts Included:

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova stated that the use of frozen Russian assets by European nations constitutes a crime and will be punished.
Zakharova said, 'The use of Russian sovereign assets, whatever they may be called, is theft.'
Zakharova said that all who support the use of frozen Russian assets become accomplices.
Zakharova was asked to comment on a statement by Belgian Minister of Defense and Foreign Trade Theo Francken, who said that his country is blocking and will not even discuss the latest attempt to expropriate Russia's frozen assets.
Zakharova noted that those who speak out against the illegality of the use of frozen assets are voicing concerns of reason or self-preservation.
Zakharova referred to 'monstrous crimes and no less monstrous actions' of Western European or EU officials.
The Eastern Economic Forum is underway from September 1-4 in Vladivostok on the campus of the Far Eastern Federal University.
The main theme of the EEF in 2026 is 'The Far East: Development for the Benefit of People.'
The event is organized by the Roscongress Foundation with the support of the Russian government, with TASS serving as the general information partner.

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What was claimed, and who backed it

AI-extracted; can misattribute a claim — see Methodology.

Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status is Contested when two claims on this page negate each other; otherwise it counts the distinct outlets we found asserting that specific claim — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.

Claim	Confidence	Status
ClaimRussian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the use of frozen Russian assets is illegal and constitutes theft that will be punished.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via Sputnik News as of Sep 1, 2026, 11:19 AM UTC, TASS — English as of Sep 1, 2026, 10:15 AM UTC
ClaimZakharova made her remarks at a briefing on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via TASS — English as of Sep 1, 2026, 10:15 AM UTC, Sputnik News as of Sep 1, 2026, 11:19 AM UTC

Transparency & Audit Trail

2 distinct · 2 mastheads · 2 articles consulted: Sputnik News, TASS — English 2 claims extracted Version 1 Written 2026-09-01