MOSCOW (Dispatches) – Any possible seizure of Russian assets by the United States will completely destroy Moscow’s bilateral relations with Washington, TASS quoted the head of the North American Department at the Russian foreign ministry as saying on Saturday.
Russia’s relations with the West have deteriorated sharply since Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24, calling it a “special military operation.”
The West responded with unprecedented economic, financial and diplomatic sanctions, including freezing around half of Russia’s gold and foreign exchange reserves that stood near $640 billion before February 24.
Top Western officials, including European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, have suggested seizing the frozen reserves to help fund the future reconstruction of Ukraine.
“We warn the Americans of the detrimental consequences of such actions that will permanently damage bilateral relations, which is neither in their nor in our interests,” Alexander Darchiev told TASS in an interview.
Darchiev also said that the U.S. influence on Ukraine had increased to the degree that “Americans are increasingly becoming more and more a direct party in the conflict”.
Two U.S. senators seeking to pass such legislation visited Ukraine’s capital last month to discuss the bill with the country’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Since President Vladimir Putin of Russia declared the campaign in Ukraine, the United States has been providing Kiev with military aid, including at least 16 HIMARS systems.
Russia said on Tuesday its forces had destroyed six HIMARS systems in Ukraine since the start of the war. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered Russian generals last month to prioritize destroying the long-range missiles and artillery weapons. The ministry said at the time that the U.S.-made weapons were being used to strike residential areas of the Russian-held Donbass and to intentionally set fire to wheat fields and grain storage silos.

‘Russia in Full Control of
Pisky in Donetsk’

As for the developments on the ground in Ukraine, Russia says its armed forces have taken full control of a town on the outskirts of Donetsk, bringing Moscow one step closer to its declared objective of “liberating” the breakaway eastern regions in Ukraine.
The town, known as Pisky, is now under the control of the Russian forces. Fighting is still under way in the surrounding areas, Interfax cited the Russian Defense Ministry as saying on Saturday.
Russia began the conflict in Ukraine on February 24 to demilitarize and “de-Nazify” the country, and to “liberate” the Donbass, which is composed of the two breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
The Russian military says it has fully captured Luhansk and has concentrated its efforts to seize the other region.
Russian forces recently destroyed a U.S.-supplied HIMARS rocket system near Ukraine’s Kramatorsk and a depot with ammunition for the system, Interfax reported.
HIMARS is a long-range, mobile rocket system capable of hitting targets with precision. Its manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, says the systems have a “recognized and proven range” of up to 300 kilometers.