Moscow could downgrade diplomatic relations with Washington if the US confiscates frozen Russian assets, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov warned on Thursday.

The US and its allies have frozen around $300 billion in Russian central bank assets as part of Ukraine-related sanctions, most of which are being held in the EU.

Washington has long advocated for confiscating the funds, so that the money would then be handed over to Kiev for its war effort against Russia. The latest push came on Saturday, after the US House of Representatives approved a bill authorizing the confiscation of Russian money.

Moscow’s response to the confiscation of its assets by the G7 countries could include economic and diplomatic countermeasures, Ryabkov was cited by RIA Novosti as saying.

The senior diplomat has previously warned that the US should not “act under an illusion... that Russia is clinging with both hands to diplomatic relations with that country.”

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