Russia will give a very tough response to any seizure of its assets and will treat the West as equivalent to thieves, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on air during a Soloviev Live television broadcast,Paralel.Az reports citing TASS.

"This is theft. This is misappropriation of what does not belong to them. We indeed see different methods, probably not to backtrack but to somehow play in this case, because they understood that our response will be very tough, just like to all of [their] previous approaches," the diplomat said.

"There will be retaliatory measures, which, I would like to reiterate, will be very harsh. Given that our country has categorized [the West’s actions] as theft, the attitude taken will be that taken toward thieves," Zakharova stressed.