posted on 04/25/2022 18:00
(Credit: Mikhail KLIMENTYEV / SPUTNIK / AFP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that the country was facing “unprecedented pressure” from the sanctions the West imposed on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, but said the Russian economy could still function stably.
“Russia has recently faced unprecedented sanctions pressure from Western countries,” Putin said in a televised address. “After the start of the special military operation in support of the people’s republics of Donbass, this pressure has intensified,” he said.
Western nations have hit Russia with historicscale economic sanctions, crippling its financial system and cutting it off from the world, effectively undoing 30 years of postCold War involvement. The US and EU have blocked the Central Bank of Russia from selling dollars, euros and other foreign currencies in its holdings, restricted the import of certain technologies into Russia and removed some Russian banks from the Swift financial network, among other sanctions.
Acknowledging that Russia’s economy took a serious hit from Western sanctions last month, Putin said “our economy will need deep structural changes in these new realities.” Former Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin recently said that Russia’s gross domestic product could fall by more than 10% this year as the country’s economy bears the brunt of the sanctions. Nonetheless, on Monday Putin insisted that Russia’s economy could function under the current circumstances. “The Russian economy has every opportunity to work stably and flawlessly in the new realities,” he said.