Putin ally says UK will have to return Russia money that London has 'illegally' gifted to Ukraine

The speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, said on Friday that Britain would have to return Moscow money that London had decided to illegally gift to Ukraine to fund Kyiv's military.

Volodin, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, was speaking after Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Ukraine had received a first tranche of funds worth about $1 billion from Britain, secured by the proceeds of frozen Russian assets.

"England's transfer of funds belonging to Russia to Ukraine is a gross violation of international law. They will have to give back to Russia what they are now so generously giving away," Volodin said, according to parliament's press service.


"This will undermine confidence in Britain's financial system forever, because what happened destroys the principle of the inviolability of property, on which the entire global financial system is based."