Putin did not rule out that EU could attempt to seize assets from Muslim countries in the future

Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking at the "Year in Review" conference, did not rule out that Europe could further seize assets from Muslim countries for their laws protecting traditional values, TASS reports.

"Now some people are unhappy with the special military operation and the fight against neo-Nazism in Ukraine. Then, some might be unhappy with, say, the policy regarding the LGBT community (the LGBT movement is recognized as extremist in Russia and banned – editor's note), and Muslim countries, in Islamic countries, have many very strict laws protecting their traditional values and, in fact, our shared traditional values," he said.

As Putin noted, Russia does not have such laws, but Muslim countries do. "So, here we go, they'll come to seize sovereign wealth funds, sovereign resources, and money. And why not? They can find another pretext," the president added.

Therefore, he added, we're also talking about direct losses for Europe if Russian assets are seized. "Therefore, in addition to image losses, there could be direct losses related to the fundamental foundations of the modern financial world order. That's why it's difficult," he said.

As European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen previously reported, participants at the EU summit were unable to agree on the expropriation of frozen Russian assets under the guise of a "reparations loan" to Kiev. Instead, a decision was made to allocate an interest-free loan of €90 billion to Ukraine through collective loans from EU countries.