MOSCOW, Dec 19 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Friday of risks for international reserves held by the world’s top oil producers in the European Union, following discussions by EU leaders about using Russian assets to finance Ukraine.
Putin’s remarks were aimed at some of the world’s largest reserve holders, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as other OPEC countries.
EU leaders decided on Friday to borrow cash to lend 90 billion euros ($105 billion) to Ukraine to finance its defence against Russia for the next two years, rather than use frozen Russian assets.
Putin said that a seizure of the Russian assets, which he called “a robbery”, had to be cancelled because it would have had grave consequences for EU member states.
“This is not just a blow to its image; it is an undermining of trust in the euro zone. The fact is that many countries keep their gold and foreign exchange reserves in the euro zone, not only Russia but first and foremost the oil-producing countries,” Putin said.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, Vladimir Soldatkin and Anton Kolodyazhnyy; Writing by Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Timothy Heritage)
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