Russian economy nosediving into ‘crisis’ as sanction hit hard

Zelensky pledges to make Crimea 'part of the European Union'

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

Russia’s economy is nosediving into a full-blown crisis as a result of damaging Western sanctions, an advisor to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has said. Speaking during a week in which Russian President Vladimir Putin levelled a series of extraordinary allegations against the West, Vladyslav Vlasiuk said within six months, Moscow was facing the prospect of a disastrous 60 percent drop in gas and oil revenue.

Following a series of widely discredited referendums, Putin yesterday confirmed the annexation of four areas of Ukraine during a televised speech delivered at the Kremlin and packed with anti-Western rhetoric and thinly veiled threats.

However, Mr Vlasiuk, who works for the Office of the President of Ukraine, suggested he might better focusing on the mounting fiscal crisis facing his own country.

Referring to measures taken by the international community in response to Putin’s invasion of February 24, Mr Vlasiuk, who is also Deputy Head of the Task Force Ukraine, spearheaded by Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova, told Express.co.uk: “We see it from the state report in Russia, they had to cut the expenditure from the government by 10 percent at least, which signals that there is some impact from the sanctions.

“Also this year the government has raised the cost of utility bills for average Russians twice. The first time it was in July by six percent and now nine percent.

“So we see the hypocrisy of their Russian propaganda – they always say ‘you guys in Europe, your sanctions are harmful to yourself, you had to increase your utility bills because of sanctions’, but now they’re doing the same exactly because of the sanctions.”

Several sectors were being especially badly hit, Mr Vlasiuk said.

He explained: “The general rule is that the more complicated the economy sector, the more they are impacted by sanctions.

So with the aircraft industry, almost no aircrafts are being produced anymore because they were so dependent on Western technologies and components.

JUST IN: Putin faces mutiny from top commanders over Ukraine war goals

“If we look at the oil industry, and the gas industry, again, there is great dependence on Western technologies so it is really difficult for them to continue extracting oil and gas.”

Agreeing that the word “crisis” was applicable to the situation Russia’s economy was now facing, Mr Vlasiuk said: “We did sort of economic analysis last month, and we’re going to produce another one in the next couple of weeks.

“The basis is that sanctions, especially the price-capping of oil, will cut Russia’s oil and gas revenues.

“It goes as it is planned we believe that starting February next year, Russia will have 60 percent less oil revenues for its budget, which will make a real difference.

DON’T MISS
King Charles’ plans to attend Cop27 summit stopped by Liz Truss [INSIGHT]
Putin could ‘starve’ developing nations to put pressure on the West [ANALYSIS]
I will do what it takes and seize new-found freedoms outside EU [REPORT]

“So by the end of the next year, it will become really tight for Russia to commit to a budget and actually to run the military operation.”

Mr Vlasiuk suggested Putin’s bellicose pronouncements were less to do with his country’s perilous economic position that the advances made by Ukrainian forces in recent weeks.

He added: “It’s quite clear that they plan to take Kyiv in three days or something. They failed to do so.

“And they are not doing very well in all other parts of Ukraine.

There is no room for discussion, unless all the stolen regions of Ukraine have been given back to us

Vladyslav Vlasiuk

“If we talk about sanctions, they are about stopping him from continuing his invasion, and putting so much pressure on him that he has to leave our country.

“Clearly this so-called special operation has failed and now, we believe that the Russians are starting to understand that also after the mobilisation has been announced.”

Mr Vlasiuk also emphasised his belief that there was no room for compromise or negotiation where Putin was concerned.

Citing Mr Zelensky himself, Mr Vlasiuk stressed: “This is exactly what our President says. There is no room for discussion, unless all the stolen regions of Ukraine have been given back to us.”

Putin’s proclamation coincided with Russian forces in one of the four regions being annexed facing encirclement by Ukrainian troops, illustrating how tenuous Russia’s grip is on some of territory it is claiming.

In one of his most strident anti-American speeches in more than two decades in power, Putin signalled he was ready to continue what he called a battle for a “greater historical Russia”, slammed the West as out to destroy Russia and, without evidence, accused Washington and its allies of blowing up the Nord Stream gas pipelines.

The four Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – included in Putin’s land grab had made an historic choice, he claimed.

He declared: “They have made a choice to be with their people, their motherland, to live with its fate, and to triumph with it. Truth is on our side. Russia is with us!”

Source: Read Full Article