Mishustin urged to prepare a third package of anti-sanctions measures

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin considers it necessary to promptly prepare a third package of anti-crisis measures against the backdrop of sanctions imposed against Russia due to its special military operation in Ukraine.

As the prime minister recalled, the first anti-crisis package has already been approved by the parliament, the second one has been submitted to the State Duma this week, TASS reports.

Moreover, the head of the Cabinet emphasized, work has already been completed on some countermeasures. Thus, a list of industries in the segment of small and medium-sized businesses, whose representatives will be able to count on credit holidays, has been approved.

And the authorities, in particular, are preparing initiatives aimed at supporting backbone enterprises, the prime minister noted.

In general, he assured that work to improve the stability of the Russian economy that fell under the sanctions continues.

For his part, the head of the Ministry of Economic Development, Maxim Reshetnikov, said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV channel that the current crisis in the Russian economy caused by sanctions is structural in nature, and the main answer in this situation will be to rely on entrepreneurship.

Recall that on February 21, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees recognizing the independence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), and on February 24 he made an emergency appeal to the Russians and announced a special military operation in Donbass. In his speech, he stated that “circumstances require decisive action from Russia” and stressed that “Russia will not allow Ukraine to have nuclear weapons.”

In response to Russia’s actions, Western countries (USA, Canada, European Union, Great Britain, Japan) announced new, tougher sanctions against the Russian Federation, including financial and economic ones.

In particular, Russian banks fell under the sanctions, including Sberbank, VTB, Novikombank, FC Otkritie and Sovcombank, and for a number of state-owned companies it was difficult to attract foreign capital.

Later, the EU countries and the United States agreed to disconnect Russian banks that fell under sanctions from the international system of interbank transactions and information exchange SWIFT. In addition, it was decided to freeze the assets of the Bank of Russia, which will create difficulties for its use of international reserves. EU countries also pledged to take steps to limit the sale of citizenship — the so-called “golden passports” that allow wealthy Russians connected to the Russian government to become citizens of EU states and gain access to their financial systems. In addition, the European Union, the United States, Canada and a number of other countries have closed the sky for Russian aircraft.

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