Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted on Wednesday that sanctions imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine could have negative consequences for the country’s economy.
“The sanctions imposed on the Russian economy in the medium term could really have a negative impact on that”Putin warned during a televised meeting with the government.
Putin has so far downplayed the impact of sanctions, which affect many sectors of activity, including the strategic sector of hydrocarbons.
More than a year after the offensive began in Ukraine, “unemployment is at its lowest level” at 3.6 percent, Putin said, quoted by France’s AFP agency.
Putin said inflation will “fall below 4%” by the end of March, after rising to nearly 20% in spring 2022.
“But this does not mean that all problems have already been solved”warned.
“The return to a growth path should not slow us down,” Putin said, calling for “the guarantee of Russia’s economic sovereignty”.
Putin urged the government and economic leaders to “ensure the rapid launch of new projects in the manufacturing industry, especially in the production of high-tech products”, a sector that has been hit by the departure of many specialists abroad.
“Our financial system must play an important role in meeting the needs of exporters. And we must replace Western companies that worked in this niche”he claimed.
At a summit with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Moscow a week ago, Putin invited Chinese companies to replace those that had left Russia since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
The two leaders expressed their willingness to deepen economic relations between the two countries, but many observers saw the summit as a sign of Moscow’s growing dependence on Beijing, according to AFP.
The Chinese economy has largely absorbed Russian oil and gas exports, the target of Western sanctions.
While these new markets have allowed Russia to partially make up for the markets it lost in Europe, reliance on Asian “heavyweights” puts China and India in a strong position to negotiate lower prices.
In a speech to the Federal Assembly in late February, Putin called on Russian oligarchs to repatriate their funds to Russia to support the national economy.
In solidarity with Ukraine, Western allies have successively imposed economic sanctions on Russia to prevent Moscow from financing its war effort.
In addition to sanctions, Kiev’s allies have also provided Ukrainian forces with weapons to counter Russian forces.
With an exact unknown number of civilian and military casualties, the war in Ukraine plunged Europe into the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
Source: DN
