Russia-Ukraine war: Putin rubbing hands with glee as ‘scared Europe losing financial war’ | World | News


In the month following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, many Western commentators have commended the united front their leaders have taken against the actions of the Kremlin. Geopolitical forecaster George Friedman noted the war “has brought the United States and Europe closer than before”. But despite having been hit by a range of heavy sanctions, Moscow now appears to be taking back ground on the financial front, with the West only able to go so far without inflicting too much damage on itself.

One metric of Russia’s state in the face of sanctions is the value of its currency, the ruble.

On the day Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, this opened at 81.4 against the US dollar.

In just seven days, this had risen dramatically to 138.95.

But this afternoon, on Monday, Former EU Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt highlighted the ruble had already recovered a lot of ground.

At 3pm, the figure stood at 97.7.

By 9pm, it had edged closer still to its pre-invasion level, to 94.5.

The reason, Mr Verhofstadt suggested, was Europe’s continued use of Russian gas and oil.

He wrote in a post on Twitter: “A scared Europe is losing the financial war, as Europe’s gas and oil payments continue to finance the Russian army.

READ MORE: UK faces winter gas shortages after Putin sanctions

Before this, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss highlighted “the UK and our allies will have to undergo some economic hardship as a result of our sanctions”.

But, she added: “Our hardships are nothing compared to those endured by the people of Ukraine.”

Just last week, energy giant TotalEnergies announced it is splitting its ties with Russian oil but warned it could not do the same with gas because “Europe’s gas logistics capabilities make it difficult to do without Russian gas in the next two to three years”.

It warned cutting off supplies completely could lead to rationing among European businesses, such is the current level of reliance on Moscow’s output.

Despite the risk of further harm, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz confirmed today, on Monday, more measures could be implemented against Russia if necessary.



Source link