ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) – Russia’s economy has not collapsed over Western sanctions as some wished and the peak of difficulties is in the past, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday.
“We were lacking $160 billion and last year our businesses and banks were to extinguish their current loans of a total of $130 billion before their foreign partners this year, plus another $60 billion. It looks like someone was expecting some sort of a collapse,” Putin told upper house lawmakers in St. Petersburg.
“There wasn’t a collapse. The Russian economy was able to easily pass over these artificial barriers.”
Putin said that Russian businesses paid their loans pretty easily.
“A large part of the $60 billion was paid in the first quarter of this year. The peak has been crossed. If someone was counting on causing some sort of a collapse, it didn’t happen,” Putin said.
Full article: ‘Someone Was Expecting Collapse of Russian Economy’- Putin (Sputnik News)
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