Russia hits out at West for blocking Afghan reserves

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Russian foreign minister has hit out at the West for blocking the assets of Afghanistan’s central bank.

The Western countries were not ready to allocate the frozen funds for the needs of the Afghans, Sergey Lavrov alleged.

He slammed as a theft EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell’s suggestion to seize Russian assets and hand them over to Ukraine.

TASS news agency quoted him as saying at the end of his visit to Algeria: “[This proposal] is, so to speak, a theft, which they are not even trying to conceal.”

Lavrov accused the West and the US of freezing the money that belonged to Da Afghanistan Bank and not allowing the release of the assets to the Afghans.

He deplored the Afghans had suffered the implications of NATO ‘s20-year presence in the country.

The top Russian diplomat blamed the US for diverting the money for purposes that were not associated with the revival of Afghanistan’s economy.

PAN Monitor/mud