Putin: Anti-Russian sanctions akin to declaration of war

KHIMKI, Moscow Region, Mar 5 (PRIME) -- Sanctions against Russia are akin to declaration of war, President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday at a meeting with women employees of Russian airlines.

When asked about the operation in Ukraine and the possibility of introduction of martial law in Russia, he said, “These sanctions that they are introducing, they are akin to declaration of war.”

ECONOMIC SUPPORT

Putin also said that full economic freedom of people doing business could become an answer to the current situation.

“In the conditions in which we find ourselves, the only possible way out if the maximum economic freedom for the people doing business. We’ve already made some decisions in this regard, and the government is working on expansion of these support measures, including lifting different restrictions on entrepreneurship,” he said.

People should also be free from the threat of criminal persecution for economic crimes if they redeem the financial damage. Criminal cases on economic crimes should be launched only on request from the Federal Tax Service, he said.

He also said that the government plans to index all social payments and benefits as usual, and design a unified and structured system of support for pregnant women and families with children under 18. The existing system of support is disheveled, some regions provide support and some don’t, and there are no federal benefits. The government will change that, he said.

AVIATION INDUSTRY

Return of international flights to the West now depends not only on Russia.

“This does not depend on us alone. It depends on the ones who do it, who hurt themselves by doing it. I think that they don’t like doing it, and they are doing it under political pressure from their authorities,” Putin said.

Russia’s ban on the flights above Siberia for the Western airlines will trigger a price rise for the airlines, he said.

Putin also said that Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev has his own proposals on the problem of leased aircraft of Russian airlines and rejection of foreign companies to deliver spare parts.

“Let’s give him some space to hold negotiations with the partners, I hope that they will agree on that as it lies within the zone of their own interests … I assume that we will continue flying,” he said.

Putin said that the authorities had already expanded subsidies on the flights to the Far East to 6 billion rubles from around 1.2 billion rubles, and will raise them if necessary.

The government wants flights between small localities in the remote regions to be viable instead of flying through connection flights in Moscow. Russia will continue to improve transport infrastructure, building its aircraft, and ensuring connections between the cities, Putin said.

Russia will also ramp up imports substitution in its industry just like it did in the agriculture sector after 2014, he added.

(105.8124 rubles – U.S. $1)

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