Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted on Tuesday the danger of the medium-term impact of Western sanctions on the national economy in the context of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.
“Yes, we must recognize that those who wish us harm hope to cause us problems in the medium term. Indeed, that danger exists. We are aware of this,” Putin said when meeting workers at a helicopter factory in the Siberian region of Buryatia.
When one of the workers acknowledged that his colleagues feared that the economy “would not withstand” the onslaught of the sanctions and “would collapse”, Putin replied: “I am the same as you. Trust me.”
While acknowledging that companies need modern equipment and designs, and that real income has fallen, he assured that now wages are growing and that “everything will be fine.”
“They predicted that our GDP would collapse by 20% or more. Nothing like that happened. We have a contraction, but not 20%, but 2.1% ”, he pointed out.
Putin stressed that the Russian economy has grown uninterruptedly for the past seven months, the internal market has strengthened and that the financial system has not only resisted, but has strengthened thanks to the good management of the Government and the Central Bank.
“Despite certain losses, I think that last year was good for us considering that we became more sovereign and self-sufficient in the economic and financial spheres,” he insisted.
He also stressed that this year the agricultural harvest will reach 155 million tons, “a record in the new history of Russia.”
Regarding the neighboring country, the scene of a Russian military campaign since February 2022, the head of the Kremlin assured that the Ukrainian economy contracted more than 40%.