The US House of Representatives also passed legislation on Saturday, April 20, including a draft bill with a provision that would allow for the confiscation of Russian state assets, even though the lion's share of assets are in Europe.
About $300 billion of Russian assets are frozen abroad, of which $5 to $6 billion is in the United States, while the rest is in the European Union.
In the event that the US and the EU seize nearly $300 billion worth of assets from the Russian Federation and use them to aid Ukraine, Putin will launch retaliatory measures.
Valentina Matviyenko, speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament, was quoted as saying by state news agency RIA: "We have a ready answer; we have a draft law on retaliatory measures, which we are ready to consider immediately. The Europeans will lose more than us."
Russia has announced that it will contest the possible confiscation of its assets in international courts.
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