"It's Russia that will suffer," says Bruno Le Maire this Tuesday morning on franceinfo.
The Minister of Economy announces the economic strategy put in place against Russia to respond to the invasion in Ukraine: “We are going to cause the collapse of the Russian economy”.
According to the minister, “we are going to wage a total economic and financial war against Russia”.
⚡ ALERT INFO - War in Ukraine: "We are going to cause the collapse of the Russian economy", says Bruno Le Maire on franceinfohttps://t.co/URdG9BGLGL pic.twitter.com/zDUAw6EBvr
— franceinfo (@franceinfo) March 1, 2022
While the day after negotiations between Putin and Ukrainian President Zelensky, Russian troops seem to be preparing for an assault on the Ukrainian capital Kiev, Bruno Le Maire announces a strengthening of economic sanctions on Russia.
Measures which will be "applied" until "Vladimir Putin returns to better intentions in Ukraine", he warns.
Read alsoWar in Ukraine: follow the events of this Tuesday live
“It is Russia that will suffer.
Europe, for its part, will perhaps have a little more inflation (…).
Europe, the only consequence it can have in the coming weeks is a small increase in prices according to the increase in energy prices
,
” adds Bruno Le Maire.
On this point, the minister said he wanted the “tariff shield” around gas to be maintained “for certain companies”: “Our responsibility is to protect individuals”.
"The balance of economic and financial power is totally in favor of the European Union which is in the process of discovering its economic power", he believes.
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One of the latest measures, the blocking of Russian central bank foreign currency assets held 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 foreign currencies abroad and forced Russian exporters to convert a large part of their income into rubles.
The totality of the Russian assets that the allies will freeze represents “almost 1,000 billion dollars”, indicates the Minister of the Economy.
The Russian people sanctioned?
"We don't know how to do otherwise"
“Companies will not be able to borrow except at high rates”, warns the French minister, affirming that Westerners are ready if necessary for “a further strengthening of sanctions” as affirmed the day before by the Elysée.
"The urgency is to raise the cost of the war for President (Vladimir) Putin," the French presidency said on Monday, considering that the sanctions already taken "are hurting more than President Putin had anticipated".
Bruno Le Maire also indicated on Tuesday that the Russian people would suffer the effects of the sanctions "because of their leader".
We do not know how to do otherwise, ”he admitted.
