OREANDA-NEWS  French Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire said there was no legal basis for the seizure of Russian assets.

"I want to be very clear: we currently have no legal basis for the seizure of Russian assets. We need to keep working... The G7 must act in compliance with the rule of law," Agence France-Presse reports the words of the minister, who spoke to reporters on the sidelines of the meeting of the heads of finance ministries and central banks of the G20.

The Kremlin stated that making such decisions "would be another step in violating all the rules and norms of international law." The Russian Foreign Ministry called the freezing of Russian assets in Europe theft, noting that the EU is aimed not just at private individuals' funds, but also at Russian state assets.