Eva Deschamps / March 1, 2022
We will cause the collapse of the Russian economy through Western economic sanctions imposed in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said Tuesday.
Closure of airspace, freezing of assets of personalities or companies, questioning of financial or commercial links... Europe and the United States in the lead have multiplied the announcements these last days in order to dissuade Moscow from continuing its assaults on Ukraine.
The economic and financial balance of power is totally in favor of the European Union, which is in the process of discovering its economic power, the minister also said on France Info.
One of the latest measures, the freezing of the Russian central bank's foreign currency holdings abroad, caused the Russian currency to plunge on Monday as many people rushed to the bank to withdraw cash.
As a matter of urgency, Russia on Monday banned its residents from transferring currency abroad and forced Russian exporters to convert much of their income into rubles.
The total amount of Russian assets that the allies are going to freeze represents almost 1,000 billion dollars, said the minister on Tuesday, adding: we are going to wage a total economic and financial war against Russia, the day after the Russian central bank raised interest rates to 20%.
Companies will not be able to borrow except at high rates, the French minister also said, asserting that the West is ready if necessary to a new strengthening of sanctions as stated the day before by the Elysee.
The urgency is to raise the cost of the war for President (Vladimir) Putin, said Monday the French presidency, saying that the sanctions already taken hurt more than President Putin had anticipated.
Bruno Le Maire also said Tuesday that the Russian people would suffer the effects of sanctions because of its leader. We don't know how to do otherwise, he acknowledged.