Russia has no plans to seize European assets, including companies and banks, but will review its stance if the European Union moves to seize frozen Russian state assets, a senior Russian finance ministry official said on Wednesday.

About $250 billion in Russian assets have been frozen in the EU since the United States and its allies banned transactions with Russia’s central bank and finance ministry after Russian troops were sent to Ukraine in February 2022.

European leaders are discussing ways to use the frozen assets to fund Ukraine’s defense and reconstruction without immediately confiscating them, due to legal issues and concerns raised by the European Central Bank and some EU member states.

Russian Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev noted that Europe has so far avoided full confiscation of frozen assets and stressed that Moscow will do the same unless the EU changes course.

“We are not proceeding with any seizure yet. The Europeans have not asked for confiscation, so we will not confiscate anything until they do. If they eventually proceed with confiscation, then we will look into it,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the conference.

Moiseev also added that the recent presidential decree to accelerate the privatization of state assets is not linked to plans to seize European assets.

In the decree, Russian President Vladimir Putin named PSB, a bank that serves the military industry and is under Western sanctions, as the government’s representative in state property sales.

The decree also introduced a fast sale mechanism, which provides for a mandatory valuation of an asset within 10 days of signing the relevant contract, as well as faster registration of property rights.

The text of the decree states that the measures are a response to the “unfriendly” actions of the United States and its allies. This has prompted speculation that the order is intended to help Russia react immediately, should its frozen assets be seized.

However, Moiseev said private European companies and banks still operating in Russia have not been seized by the state and are therefore not covered by the new privatization decree.

“Forget European assets (in relation to the decree). No one is looking at or discussing these issues,” Moiseev said, arguing that the real purpose of the decree is to create yet another channel for selling assets.

Authorities have already seized about $50 billion worth of assets since the start of the war in Ukraine, including the assets of Western companies that have fled the country.

Large domestic firms have also been sold, with reasons ranging from corruption cases and privatization irregularities to allegations of mismanagement.

These nationalizations represent the biggest redistribution of wealth since the 1990s, when the Soviet Union’s state assets were sold to private investors at knock-down prices.

Russian government officials have pledged to quickly find new private owners for the seized assets. “There are a lot of assets and they need to be sold quickly,” said Moiseev.