Putin Sees Own Goal in Western Sanctions
The Western economy is deteriorating rapidly, partly due to the sanctions that Western countries have announced against Russia. It is an own goal from the West, according to Putin.
However, according to the Russian president, his country’s economy is stabilizing, including inflation.
Russia has been the target of heavy economic sanctions by Western countries following the attack on Ukraine that began on February 24. Russia is a major supplier of natural gas, oil and other critical raw materials.
Meanwhile, the ongoing battle in Ukraine is a high cost for the Russian state. But Putin sees it as a necessary mission for his country’s security and for ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine. Critics say it may also be an attempt by Putin, who has been in power for more than 20 years, to distract Russians from many years of chronic economic problems, partly caused by ongoing corruption.
Russians are losing hope for more income and a better future with Putin’s stagnant economic policies.
According to The Financial Times’ observations, Russia is now facing one of its worst economic crises since the early 1990s, when the Soviet Union had just fallen apart, and there was economic chaos. As a result, Russia would see its gross domestic product shrink by at least 11 percent this year.