MOSCOW, September 23. /TASS/. The introduction of temporary administration for Russian assets of Western companies, including Auchan and Lemana Pro, is a preemptive signal to the EU aimed at preventing the attempts to "profit from" frozen Russian assets, head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) Alexander Shokhin said, adding though that the EU does not seem to take such signals adequately.

"There is currently much talk of ways to remove frozen Russian assets from Belgium’s jurisdiction and transfer them to the control of another European Union institution, for example, to manage the Central Bank’s frozen reserves. I believe such decisions (placing assets of unfriendly countries’ assets under external management by Russia) are largely related to the demonstration of existing retaliatory measures should you take such actions. Those are preemptive signals in a certain sense. However, they don’t seem to be taken adequately," he told reporters.

Shokhin expects the attempts to use Russian assets to continue.

"Therefore, I think, the Europeans will also be looking for options to profit from our frozen assets, and we will be forced to reciprocate," he noted.