Putin: Western sanctions cause global crisis to large extent

MOSCOW, May 12 (PRIME) -- Western sanctions are the cause of the global crisis to a large degree, and political ambitions of the U.S. and the E.U. hurt peoples of the countries, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday during a government meeting.

“These sanctions are largely the cause of the global crisis. Their authors used near-sighted and bloated political ambitions and Russophobia, and they largely hurt their own national interests, their own economies, and wealth of their own citizens. We see confirmation of it in a spike of inflation in Europe,” he said, adding that some European countries have inflation of up to 20%.

If the West sticks to its sanction obsession farther, the consequences for the E.U. and the poorest countries of the world will be dire and almost irreversible, he said.

During the tough times, Russia has to support consumer demand and ensure growth of households’ incomes, he said.

RUSSIAN INFLATION

Russia has coped with the external challenges caused by the Western sanctions, and inflation is getting close to the central bank’s target, Putin said.

“Inflation is slowing down gradually, its dynamics slowed down by several times as compared with March. The weekly growth of prices decelerated to 0.1%, which is close to the weekly dynamics that comply with the Bank of Russia’s inflation target,” he said.

The ruble is also showing the best dynamics among all currencies of the world, he added.

The central bank will continue softening of the monetary policy and improving credit affordability, Putin said.

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