Le Monde: Russia’s military operation in Ukraine could lead to irreversible changes in the global economy

Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, the subsequent Western sanctions against the Russian Federation and the general crisis around Ukraine will slow down the recovery of the global economy after the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and may lead to its irreversible changes. The publication Le Monde warns about this.

The publication, in particular, cites the statement of OECD Senior Economist Lawrence Boone, who states that the crisis in the global economy is already manifesting itself in the form of rising prices for energy resources, food products and certain metals, Lenta.ru reports.

For his part, the head of the Association of German Trade Unions, Rainer Hoffmann, in an interview with the Funke media group, also did not rule out that the situation in Ukraine threatens to lead to a global economic crisis.

“The longer this war goes on, the greater the consequences will be. We must use all means to prevent a crisis in the global economy, ”TASS quotes Hoffman.

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.

Thus, 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.

You can follow the chronicle of events around Ukraine here.