Russia vows retaliation for frozen bank accounts in Europe

Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, on Friday vowed retaliation if Moscow is unable to regain control of recently-frozen bank accounts in the European Union countries.
Belgian and French authorities froze the accounts linked to Russian embassies and other diplomatic institutions, to enforce a $50 billion court ruling regarding the defunct Russian oil company, Yukos.
“The response will be reciprocal. I hope that common sense will prevail so that an analogous situation for the Belgian embassy in Russia will not need to be made,’’ Lavrov said.
The Belgian Foreign Ministry confirmed Russian media reports that its ambassador to Moscow had been summoned, adding that it is looking into the situation.
EU foreign policy spokeswoman, Maja Kocijancic, said the bloc had no particular comment at present, as the issue was being dealt with between the Belgian and Russian authorities.
“For us, this is a bilateral affair,’’ a senior EU official added.
Yukos was dismantled in the mid-2000s amid allegations of tax evasion that were widely seen as retribution for Chief Executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s political ambitions.
Khodorkovsky was thrown in jail for a decade.
An arbitration court in The Hague in 2014 ordered Russia to compensate former Yukos shareholders for dismantling the company.