MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin called the West an “Empire of Lies” as he discussed the economy with top officials on Monday following the imposition of sweeping sanctions against Moscow, the Kremlin said.
“(Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin) and I discussed this topic, naturally bearing in mind the sanctions that the so-called Western community – as I called it in my speech, the ’empire of lies’ – is now trying to implement against our country,” a transcript of the meeting quoted Putin as saying.
The United States imposed new sanctions on Russia’s central bank and other sources of wealth and many Western companies began to disentangle themselves from their Russian operations. Over the weekend, some Russian banks were barred from the SWIFT international payments system.
The European Union placed new sanctions on Russian oligarchs and officials and some of its members urged the bloc to begin talks on Ukrainian accession. Zelenskiy signed a letter formally requesting EU membership, an emphatic statement of commitment to Western values. read more
Putin dismissed the West as an “empire of lies” and replied to the new sanctions with moves to shore up Russia’s crumbling rouble currency, which plunged 32% against the dollar before recouping about half of its losses.
Russia’s central bank cranked up its key interest rate to 20% from 9.5%. Authorities told export-focused companies to be ready to sell foreign currency. The rouble hit a low of 120 to the dollar on electronic currency trading platform EBS.
UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said at least 102 civilians in Ukraine had been killed since Thursday but the real figure could be “considerably higher.” More than half a million people have fled to neighbouring countries, according to the UN refugee agency.
Partners in the US-led NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) defence alliance were providing Ukraine with air-defence missiles and anti-tank weapons, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said.
The Kremlin accused the EU of hostile behaviour, saying weapons supplies to Ukraine were destabilising and proved that Russia was right in its efforts to demilitarise its neighbour.
There was support for Ukraine from unexpected quarters. US technology firm Microsoft said it had provided threat intelligence and defensive suggestions to Ukrainian officials about attacks on a range of targets, and also advised the government about attempted cyberthefts of data.
European soccer’s governing body, UEFA, scrapped sponsorship by the Russian state gas giant Gazprom reported to be worth 40 million euros ($45 million) a season, and UEFA and the global federation FIFA suspended all Russian teams until further notice.
