Russia’s economy turned out to be more resilient than the West expected “when introducing sanctions against our country”, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.

Putin said this during his address to the Russian Federal Assembly.

“Russia’s economy and administrative system proved to be more resilient than the West expected it to be,” he said. 

 

The president added that the West tried to destroy Russia’s economy, provoke inflation, and crash the ruble.

 

“What means were used against us in these sanctions?

 

“They tried to sever economic ties with Russian companies, disconnect the financial system from communication channels in order to destroy our economy, and deprive us of access to export markets in order to target revenues.

“This is theft – there is no other way to say it – of our foreign exchange reserves, attempts to crash the ruble, and provoke devastating inflation,” Putin added.

He said inflation in Russia would target 4 per cent inflation in the second quarter of 2023.

“According to estimates, inflation in Russia will approach the target level of 4 per cent already in the second quarter of this year.

 

“Let me remind you that in some European Union countries, it (inflation) is already 17 per cent, 12 per cent, and 20 per cent.

“We have 4 per cent, well, almost 5 per cent – the (Russian) Central Bank and the (Russian) Finance Ministry are sorting out the issue among themselves.

“But it will be closer to the target indicator,” Putin said.

The Russian president said moreover, the share of the ruble in foreign trade payments of Russia had doubled over the past year and amounted to a third, adding that “given the currencies of friendly countries, this is more than half.”